USS Peoria, PF-67
A city in Illinois.
Builder: Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, 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; 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 Peoria (PF-67), originally ordered as a gunboat (PG-175) but was re-designated a frigate in April 1943. She was laid down by the Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Co., Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on 25 May 1943. She was launched 2 October 1943 and was sponsored by Mrs. Agnes Reynolds. Peoria was commissioned at Houston, Texas 2 January 1945 under the command of CDR George R. Leslie, USCG.
Peoria got underway 12 January 1945 for shakedown off Bermuda, returning to Norfolk before sailing 4 March with a convoy for Gibraltar. She then proceeded to Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, 19 March. On the 27th she joined a returning convoy from Oran, escorting it to the United States. After a brief period at New York, Peoria steamed to Casco Bay, Maine for antisubmarine training. This completed, she departed Casco Bay 7 May for New London, Connecticut. As Peoria arrived at New London the following day, 5 May 1945, the war in Europe came to an end. For the next two weeks, the frigate assisted in training submarine crews at New London.
Peoria departed New London 21 May for Charleston, South Carolina, where she was fitted out for Atlantic weather patrol duty. On 21 June she began a year of weather station work, alternating periods on station in the North Atlantic with visits to ports from Bermuda to Iceland.
Peoria was decommissioned 15 May 1946. Her name was struck from the Navy List 19 June 1946, and she was turned over to the Foreign Liquidation Commission of the State Department. On 16 June 1947 the former Peoria was transferred to the Cuban Navy, where she served as Antonio Maceo (F-302).
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. V, p. 259.