USS Coronado, PF-38
A city in California.
Builder: Consolidated Steel Corp., Los Angeles, 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. For those frigates fitted out for weather patrol duty, the after 3-inch gun was removed and a weather balloon hanger was added aft.
History:
Coronado (PF - 38) was launched 17 June 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Los Angeles, CA, under a Maritime Commission contract. She was sponsored by Mrs. J. R. Crutchfield. Coronado was commissioned 17 November 1943, and LCDR N. W. Sprow, USCG, was given command.
Coronado sailed from San Diego 8 February 1944 for convoy escort duty to Noumea and Cairns, Australia, en route to New Guinea, arriving 25 March. After escorting troop and cargo transports to Manus to support the landings there, she returned to the New Guinea area for the operations in the western part of that island, taking part in the landings on Biak from 28 May to 17 June on Cape Sansapor from 15 to 18 August, and on Morotai on 15 September.
She sailed from Humboldt Bay 10 October 1944 to join in the Leyte operation, and served on escort and patrol duty between Leyte and New Guinea until 15 December. After overhaul at Boston and refresher training in Casco Bay, Coronado sailed for Seattle, arriving 26 April 1945. She got underway for Alaska 7 June, and on 25 June at Cold Bay, received four Russian officers and 45 men aboard for training. Coronado was decommissioned 12 July 1945, and transferred to the Soviet Union under lend lease. She was commissioned into the Soviet Navy as EK-8.
The Soviets returned her to the custody of the United States at Yokosuka on 16 October 1949. Coronado was placed in reserve there until 14 January 1953 when she was transferred to Japan under the Mutual Assistance Program.
Coronado received four battle stars for World War II service.
Sources:
The Coast Guard At War, Transports and Escorts, Vol. V, No. 1.
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. II, p. 189.
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.