USS Beaufort, PF-59  

A city in South Carolina.

Builder:  Globe Shipbuilding Co., Superior, WI.

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 third Beaufort (PF-59) was launched 9 October 1943 by Globe Shipbuilding Co., Superior, WI.  She was sponsored by Mrs. Elma G. Rodgers and was commissioned 28 August 1944, under the command of LCDR George Boyce, USCG.

The Coast Guard-manned Beaufort served on weather patrol and plane guard duties off the Newfoundland coast from 1 November 1944 until 20 March 1946.  The weather observations included the use of the radio-sonde balloons, the recording of the ocean temperature at various depths, the computations of surface and aloft winds and temperatures which were reported to the Weather Bureau in Washington, DC, and used in meteorological research, which proved valuable to the successful operation of the Air Transport Command.  The Air-Sea Rescue phase of the warship depended primarily upon the accuracy of the navigational position of the vessel.  It involved the transmission of radio beacons both on predetermined periodic schedule and upon request from airplanes.  Extensive rescue gear was placed on board for use in aircraft emergencies. She was decommissioned at Norfolk 19 April 1946 and sold 11 April 1947. 

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. 1, pp. 109-110.