USS Charlottesville, PF-25
A city in Virginia, home of Thomas Jefferson and seat of the University of Virginia.
Builder: Walter Butler Shipbuilding Company, Superior, Wisconsin
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 (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:
Charlottesville (PF-25) was launched 30 July 1943 by Walter Butler Shipbuilding Co., Superior, Wisconsin, under a Maritime Commission contract. She was sponsored by Mrs. J. E. Gleason, wife of the mayor of Charlottesville. She was commissioned 10 April 1944, Lieutenant W. F. Cass, USCG, in command.
Departing New York 18 August 1944, Charlottesville arrived at Finschhafen, New Guinea, 29 September by way of Bora Bora in the Society Islands. She operated on convoy escort and antisubmarine patrol duty between New Guinea and the Philippines until 6 March 1945 when she departed Leyte for Seattle, arriving 15 June. Following the training of Russian personnel in the operation of the ship, Charlottesville was decommissioned 12 July 1945 and transferred to USSR the next day under lend-lease. She served in the Soviet Navy as the EK-1. The Soviets returned her to United States custody 17 October 1949 at Yokosuka, Japan. She was then lent to Japan 14 January 1953 and renamed Matsu.
Charlottesville received two battle stars for service in World War II.
Sources:
The Coast Guard At War, Transports and Escorts, Vol. V, No. 1, 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. II, p. 84.
Russell, Richard A. Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan. No. 4. The U.S. Navy in the Modern World Series.
Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center, 1997.