USS Annapolis (PF-15)
Annapolis is the capital of Maryland and the site of the United States Naval Academy.
Builder: American Shipping Company, Lorain, OH
Laid Down: 20 May 1943
Launched/Christened: 16 October 1943
Commissioned: 4 December 1944
Decommissioned: 29 May 1946
Fate: Sold to Mexico, renamed ARM General Vicente Guerrero; later renamed Rio Usumacinta. Scrapped in 1964.
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; 2 x 40mm (twin-mounts); 9 x 20mm (single-mount); 1 x Hedgehog, 8 x depth charge projectors; 2 x depth charge racks.
History:
The second U.S. Navy warship named Annapolis (PF-15), a Tacoma-class frigate, was laid down by the American Shipbuilding Company of Lorain, Ohio on 20 May 1943. She was launched on 16 October 1943 and was sponsored by Mrs. Belva Grace McCready. Annapolis was then floated down the Mississippi River to the Port Houston Iron Works in Houston, Texas where she was completed.
The Navy commissioned Annapolis on 4 December 1944 under the command of CDR H. F. Garcia, USCG and CDR M. F. Garfield took command on 14 December 1944. She departed for shakedown on 18 January 1944 and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia on 17 February 1945 for post-shakedown availability. Annapolis then made her first trans-Atlantic escort-of-convoy crossing, arriving at Oran, Algeria on 5 March 1945 and returned to New York, New York on 30 March 1945.
After two week's availability Annapolis departed on exercises on 13 April 1945. She then undertook her second escort-of-convoy crossing, arriving at Oran on 9 May 1945, then returning to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 2 June 1945. After two week's availability she departed Philadelphia on 16 June 1945, bound for the west coast.
Annapolis arrived at San Pedro, California, via the Panama Canal, on 5 August 1945 and Seattle, Washington on 10 August 1945. She then sailed to Kodiak, Alaska, arriving there on 10 September 1945. On 5 January 1946 she arrived at San Francisco, California and was on Weather Station "E" until 5 April 1946. She departed San Francisco on 16 April 1946 bound for Seattle, where she was decommissioned on 29 May 1946.
Annapolis was sold to Mexico, through the Foreign Liquidation Commission, on 24 November 1947.
Sources:
Annapolis Ship's History File, Historian's Office.
The Coast Guard At War, Transports and Escorts, Vol. V, No. 1. Washington, DC: U.S. Coast Guard, p. 142.
Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1992, pp. 148-149.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. 1. Washington, DC: USGPO, p. 47.