USS Gladwyne, PF-62
A city in Pennsylvania.
Builder: Globe Shipbuilding Co., Superior, 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:
Gladwyne (PF-62), formerly Worcester, was launched 7 January, 1944 by the Globe Shipbuilding Co., Superior, Wisconsin. She was sponsored by Mrs. Phyllis M. Bennett and was commissioned 21 November 1944 under the command of LCDR R. G. Miller, USCG.
After shakedown, Gladwyne sailed from Philadelphia 21 January, 1945 for Casco Bay, Maine, arriving 2 days later. Following training exercises there, she made two round trip transatlantic convoy escort voyages to Oran, Algeria, one each from New York and Norfolk, from 6 February-4 May 1945, returning to Boston each time. Refresher training at Casco Bay occupied June, and on 31 July Gladwyne sailed from Boston via Panama to reach Majuro 5 September. She served as plane guard there and at Kwajalein until putting in at Pearl Harbor 27 December, 1945. Underway again 23 February, 1946, Gladwyne patrolled on weather station until mooring at San Francisco 9 April. Decommissioned there 15 April, 1946 she was stricken from the Navy List 8 October, 1946 and sold to the Mexican Government 24 November, 1947. She served Mexico as Papaloapan until disposed of in 1965.
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. 148149.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. III, pp. 104-105.