USS Albuquerque, 1943 (PF-7)
A city in New Mexico.
Builder: Kaiser Cargo, Inc., Richmond, CA
Length: 303' 11"
Beam: 37' 6"
Draft: 12' 8" fl
Displacement: 2,230 tons
Propulsion: 2-shaft VTE, 3 boilers
Range: 9,500 nm at 12 knots
Top speed: 20 knots
Complement: 190
Armament: 3 x 3"/50; 4 x 40mm (2x2); 9 x 20mm; 1 x Hedgehog, 8 x depth charge projectors; 2 x depth charge racks.
HISTORY:
Albuquerque (PF-7) was launched 14 September 1943 by Kaiser Cargo Co., Inc., Richmond, California. She was sponsored by Mrs. B. L. Livingston and was commissioned into the U.S. Navy on 20 December 1943. Lieutenant Commander W. I. Goff, USCGR, was her first commanding officer. PF-7 reported to Escort Division 27, Pacific Fleet for escort and patrol duties.
She proceeded to Seattle on 4 April 1944 and thence to Adak on 20 April 1944. She proceeded to Attu where she remained until 27 December 1944 and returned to Adak on the 29th. LT R. C. Sweet, USCGR assumed command of the frigate on 6 October 1944. On 5 June 1945 she departed Dutch Harbor for Seattle and was transferred to Commander, Alaskan Sea Frontier the next day.
She arrived at Seattle on 10 June 1945 and prepared for transfer to the Soviet Navy. She was officially transferred to the USSR under Lend-Lease on 16 August 1945 as the EK-14. The newly renamed frigate arrived at Dutch Harbor, via Cold Bay, on 20 August 1945. She arrived at Petropavlousk, USSR, on 25 August 1945.
She was returned to the US Navy 15 November 1949 at Yokosuka Japan. She was then recommissioned 3 October 1950 at Yokosuka, for duty in the Korean War. Albuquerque served on patrol and escort duty in Far Eastern waters until September 1951. She was decommissioned 28 February 1953 at Yokosuka, Japan, and loaned to Japan 30 November 1953.
SOURCES:
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. 1, p. 24.
The Coast Guard At War, Transports and Escorts, Vol. V, No. 1, p. 141.
Richard A. Russell. Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan. [The U.S. Navy in the Modern World Series, No. 4.] Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center/U.S. Government Printing Office, 1997, pp. 39-40.