USS Sandusky, PF-54
A city in northern Ohio on Lake Erie west of Cleveland.
Builder: Froemming Bros., Inc., Milwaukee, Wis
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:
The USS Sandusky (PF- 54), originally classified PG-162, was reclassified PF-54 on 15 April 1943. She was laid down on 8 July 1943 under Maritime Commission contract by Froemming Bros., Inc., Milwaukee, WI and was launched on 5 October 1943. She was sponsored by Miss Mabel Apel. The Sandusky was commissioned on 18 April 1944 at New Orleans, LA under the command of LCDR Thomas R. Sargent, III, USCG.
After shakedown at Bermuda and overhaul at Philadelphia, Sandusky departed for the Pacific on 18 August 1944, escorting a convoy from New York to Finschafen and Hollandia, New Guinea. After completing her long convoy voyage on 2 October, she proceeded to Morotai conducting antisubmarine patrols there for the rest of the month. From November 1944 through February 1945, she escorted convoys between Hollandia and Leyte in support of the troops occupying the Philippines. After escorting a convoy to Lingayen Gulf, she sailed from Leyte on 5 March 1945 for Seattle.
Following overhaul, she proceeded to Alaska, arriving in Cold Bay on 15 June. She was decommissioned on 12 July 1945 and was transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend Lease the next day as EK-10.
Sandusky was returned to United States custody on 15 October 1949 and, after a period in reserve, was loaned to Japan on 26 February 1953 as Nire. She was struck from the Navy list on 1 December 1961 and was transferred outright to Japan on 28 August 1962. She was returned to the United States on 31 March 1970 for disposal.
Sandusky earned two battle stars for her World War II service.
Sandusky's first commanding officer, Thomas R. Sargent, III, went on to serve as the Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard and retired as a Vice Admiral.
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. 316.
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.
Thomas R. Sargent, III. "The Story of a World War II Frigate: The USS Sandusky PF-54."