USS Everett (PF-8)

History
United States
Name: USS Everett (PG-116)
Namesake: Everett, Washington
Reclassified: PF-8, 15 April 1943
Builder: Kaiser Cargo, Inc., Richmond, California
Yard number: 51
Laid down: 31 July 1943
Launched: 29 September 1943
Sponsored by: Mrs. Cornelia M. Fitch
Commissioned: 22 January 1944
Decommissioned: 16 August 1945
Fate: Transferred to Soviet Navy, 16 August 1945[1]
Acquired: Returned by Soviet Navy, 15 November 1949
Recommissioned: 26 July 1950
Decommissioned: 10 March 1953
Honors and
awards:		 4 battle stars, Korean War
Fate: Transferred to Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, March 1953
Struck: 1 December 1961
Acquired: Returned by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 22 January 1976
Fate: Scrapped
History
Soviet Union
Name: EK-15[2]
Acquired: 16 August 1945[1]
Commissioned: 16 August 1945[3]
Fate: Returned to United States, 15 November 1949
History
Japan
Name: JDS Kiri (PF-291)
Acquired: March 1953
Renamed: YAC-20, 31 March 1970
Reclassified: Auxiliary stock craft (YAC), 31 March 1970
Decommissioned: 1 October 1975
Fate: Returned to United States, 22 January 1976
General characteristics
Class and type: Tacoma-class frigate
Displacement:
  • 1,430 long tons (1,453 t) light
  • 2,415 long tons (2,454 t) full
Length: 303 ft 11 in (92.63 m)
Beam: 37 ft 11 in (11.56 m)
Draft: 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × 5,500 shp (4,101 kW) turbines
  • 3 boilers
  • 2 shafts
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 190
Armament:

USS Everett (PF-8), a Tacoma-class frigate in commission from 1944 to 1945 and from 1950 to 1953, thus far has been the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Everett, Washington. She also served in the Soviet Navy as EK-15 and in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Kiri (PF-11), JDS Kiri (PF-291) and YAC-20.

Construction and commissioning

Originally classified as a patrol gunboat, PG-116, Everett was reclassified as a patrol frigate, PF-8, on 15 April 1943. She was launched on 29 September 1943 at the Kaiser Cargo, Inc., shipyard in Richmond, California, sponsored by Mrs. Cornelia M. Fitch, and was commissioned on 22 January 1944 with Lieutenant Commander W. L. Davis, USCG, in command.

Service history

U.S. Navy, World War II, 1944–1945

After shakedown and training, Everett steamed north to Adak, Territory of Alaska, arriving there on 22 April 1944, and began 16 months of patrol and escort duty in the Aleutian Islands. Selected for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula – a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay, Alaska, in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan – she then proceeded to Cold Bay in the summer of 1945 and began training her new Soviet crew.[4]

Soviet Navy, 1945–1949

Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, Everett was decommissioned on 16 August 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease immediately[1] along with her sister ships USS Tacoma (PF-3), USS Sausalito (PF-4), USS Hoquiam (PF-5), USS Pasco (PF-6), and USS Albuquerque (PF-7). Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,[3] Everett was designated as a storozhevoi korabl ("escort ship") and renamed EK-15[2] in Soviet service. She soon departed Cold Bay bound for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union, where she served as a patrol vessel in the Soviet Far East.[4]

In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II. On 8 May 1947, United States Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal informed the United States Department of State that the United States Department of the Navy wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned, EK-15 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but on 15 November 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned EK-15 to the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.[5]

U.S. Navy, Korean War, 1950–1953

Reverting to her original name, Everett was given an extensive overhaul at Yokosuka, where she was recommissioned on 26 July 1950 for service during the Korean War. Assigned to primary duty as station ship at Hong Kong, she also joined the United Nations Blockading and Escort Force in operations off both coasts of Korea. On 3 July 1951 while bombarding Wonsan, North Korea, Everett was hit by fire from a shore battery; one man was killed and seven were wounded, but damage to the ship was light.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 1953–1976

On 10 March 1953, Everett was decommissioned at Yokosuka and lent to Japan, entering service with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Kiri (PF-11) (きり (PF-11), "paulownia").[6] Kiri was redesignated PF-291 on 1 September 1957.[6] The United States struck her from the Navy List on 1 December 1961. She was reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" (YAC) and renamed YAC-20 on 31 March 1970.[6] Decommissioned on 1 October 1975, she was returned to the United States on 22 January 1976 for disposal and subsequently scrapped.

Awards

The U.S. Navy awarded Everett four battle stars for her Korean War service.

References

  1. 1 2 3 NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Everett (PF 8) ex-PG-116 states that Coronado was transferred to the Soviet Navy on 17 August 1945, but the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships Everett article states that Everett was transferred on 16 August 1945 and hazegray.org Everett repeats this. Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, also reports that the transfer date was 16 August 1945. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
  2. 1 2 NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Everett (PF 8) ex-PG-116 states that Everett was named EK-17 in Soviet service, but Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the ship's Soviet name was EK-15. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
  3. 1 2 According to Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, Project Hula ships were commissioned into the Soviet Navy simultaneously with their transfer from the U.S. Navy – see photo captions on p. 24 regarding the transfers of various large infantry landing craft (LCI(L)s) and information on p. 27 about the transfer of USS Coronado (PF-38), which Russell says typified the transfer process. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
  4. 1 2 Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 39.
  5. ↑ Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, pp. 37-38, 39.
  6. 1 2 3 The Naval Database.


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