USS Pasco, PF-6
A city in Washington State.
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:
Pasco (PF-6) was laid down as M.C. hull 1424, 7 July 1943 by Kaiser Cargo Co., Inc., Richmond, California. She was launched 17 August 1943 and was sponsored by Miss Myrna Olson. Pasco was commissioned 15 April 1944 and CDR Roy E. Stockstill, USCG, took command. She remained on post-shakedown availability at San Francisco until 4 October 1944, and was then ordered to Alaska. She arrived at Kodiak on 15 October 1944 she became part of Escort Division 27. She was stationed at Adak from 12 January 1945 to 5 June 1945 and conducted escort and patrol duties. LT Olaz Laveson, USCG, took command from CDR Stockstill on 26 April 1945. On 6 June 1945 she was transferred to Commander, Alaskan Sea Frontier and departed for Seattle, arriving there 11 June 1945. On 6 July 1945 she was transferred to the Soviet Union on Lend-Lease. She proceeded to Dutch Harbor, via Cold Bay, on 20 August 1945 and arrived at Petropavlousk, USSR, on 25 August 1945. She was commissioned in the Soviet Navy as EK-12.
The Soviets returned the frigate to the U.S. in 1950 and the Navy placed her in reserve. She was then loaned to Japan in 1953 and the Navy struck the frigate from the Naval Vessel Register 1 December 1961. In 1964, the ship was given to Japan and continued in operations with the Japanese as Kashi into the 1970's.
SOURCES:
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. V, p. 221.
The Coast Guard at War, Transports & 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, D.C.: Naval Historical Center/U.S. Government Printing Office, 1997, pp. 39-40.