USS Rockford, PF-48
A town in Illinois.
Builder: Consolidated Steel, 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:
Rockford, projected as PG-156, was laid down 28 August 1943 as PF-45 by Consolidated Steel, Los Angeles, CA. She was launched 27 September 1943 and was sponsored by Mrs. Harry L. Crotzer. Rockford commissioned 6 March 1944 under the command of CDR David W. Bartlett, USCG.
Following shakedown off Los Angeles, she reported to the Pacific Fleet and got underway 25 June 1944 for Cairns, Australia via Noumea. On 2 July she attacked an enemy submarine with depth charges, doing some damage. She made a second antisubmarine attack with "hedgehogs" on 7 July without result. She then proceeded via Espiritu Santo to Australia arriving Cairns 23 July. On 2 August Rockford moored in Mime Bay and operated on convoy escort duty and antisubmarine patrol off the New Guinea coast until 23 September when she made a brief run to Manus Island, Admiralties.
She then returned to New Guinea until 15 October when she steamed via Manus Island and Pearl Harbor. En route she attacked a Japanese submarine 13 November with hedgehogs, in concert with the USS Ardent (AM-340), resulting in the probable sinking of the Japanese submarine I-12. She arrived San Francisco 17 November for scheduled repairs. Rockford then reported to Commander, Alaskan Sea Frontier for duty, 4 January 1945, and operated until August at Dutch Harbor, Cold Bay, and Adak as pilot vessel for the AM-222 group.
Rockford was transferred to the Soviet Union 27 August 1945. The Soviet Navy commissioned her as the EK-18. She was returned to the United States at Yokosuka, Japan, 1 November 1949. She was then loaned to Korea 23 October 1950 to enforce the blockade against North Korea and harass the enemy. She served the Korean Navy as Apnokkang (62) until returned to the U.S. Navy 3 September 1952 and assigned a status of inactive out of commission in reserve. Rockford was struck from the Navy list 26 May 1953 and sunk as a torpedo target 30 September 1953.
Rockford earned two 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. VI, p. 140.
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.