USS Grand Forks, PF-11
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:
Grand Forks was launched by Kaiser Co., Richmond, California on 27 November
1943. Mrs.. T. H. Thoreson sponsored the new warships. She commissioned 18 March 1944 with LCDR. Christian W. Peterson, USCG, in command. Her later commanding officers were: LT William F. Adams, USCG (no date available); LT Hugh A. LeRoy, USCGR (on 25 August 1945).
After shakedown, 7 August 1944 Grand Forks sailed from San Francisco to take station in the Northern Pacific off the California coast as a plane guard ship, returning to San Francisco 3 September. She continued on this duty until decommissioning, spending an average of 3 weeks at sea and 2 in port. Late in the night 11 October 1944 Grand Forks picked up a distress call from a PB2Y about to make an emergency landing. Sending up flares and star shells to guide the plane through the dark, Grand Forks rescued 15 crewmen and passengers from the sea, as well as 114 sacks of mail.
While in port from guard duty on 31 May 1945, Grand Forks was toured by several members of the American delegation to the San Francisco Peace Conference, including Secretary of State and Mrs. Edward Stettinius, Nelson Rockefeller, and Alger Hiss. She continued on plane guard duty until 19 March 1946 and then sailed from San Francisco to Charleston, S.C., where she decommissioned 16 May 1946. Grand Forks was stricken from the Navy Register 19 June 1946; sold to J. C. Berkwit & Co. of New York 19 May 1947, and scrapped 1 November 1947.
“Launching Day of the U.S.S. ‘Grand Forks’ [;] Richmond Shipyard Number Four [;]”
November 27, 1943.
Off Mare Island Navy Yard, 21 April 1944.
U.S. Navy Photo 2442-44
Off Mare Island, 21 April 1944.
U.S. Navy Photo 2441-44
Benjamin C. Casey aboard Grand Forks.
Scan provided courtesy of his daughter, Kristen.
Benjamin C. Casey and fellow crewmen aboard Grand Forks.
Scans provided courtesy of his daughter, Kristen.
Benjamin C. Casey and fellow Grand Forks crewmen on liberty.
Scan provided courtesy of his daughter, Kristen.
Sources:
Casey family correspondence.
The Coast Guard At War, Transports and Escorts, Vol. V, No. 1, pp. 141-142.
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. III, p. 133.
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.