USS Glendale, PF-36
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:
Glendale (PF-36) was launched 28 May 1943, by Consolidated Steel Corp., Los Angeles, CA. She was sponsored by Miss Shirley Schlichtman. She was commissioned 1 October 1943 and LCDR Harold J. Doebler, USCG, was given command.
Following shakedown off Southern California, Glendale sailed from San Diego 12 January 1944 and reached Cairns, Australia, 17 February. Until the fall of 1944, she served as an antisubmarine and antiaircraft escort ship based in New Guinea protecting arriving and departing merchantmen. In September the frigate took part in the assault on Morotai Island, NWI, sailing from Humboldt Bay, N.G., 14 September to escort merchant ships to the island. She returned to Humboldt Bay 24 September to continue escort assignments between New Guinea and the Philippines. On 5 December 1944, Glendale was escorting a convoy from Hollandia to Leyte when attacking Japanese planes sank SS Antoine Saugrain, a cargo ship laden with valuable radar material, and severely damaged SS Marcus Daly. She brought the rest of the convoy safely into Leyte the next day.
Glendale departed Leyte 8 December bound for the Atlantic and moored at Boston 24 January 1945. After overhaul, she got underway from Casco Bay, Maine. 28 March for Seattle, arriving 26 April, before she sailed for Cold Bay, Alaska. Decommissioning there 12 June 1945, she was simultaneously transferred to the Soviet Navy. Renamed EK-42 she then served as a patrol vessel in the Far East. Glendale was returned to the United States by the Soviet Union 16 November 1949 at Yokosuka, Japan, and recommissioned 11 October 1950. In December. 1950, the ship patrolled off Hungnam, Pusan, and Inchon, Korea, in support of United Nations forces fighting aggression ashore. For her actions in Korean waters, Glendale was awarded the Korean Presidential Unit Citation. On 29 October 1951, she was decommissioned again and transferred to the Government of Thailand to serve as Tachin (PF-1). Glendale was struck from the Navy List 20 November 1951.
Glendale was awarded five battle stars for World War II service and four battle stars for Korean 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. III, p. 107.
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.