USSSan Pedro (PF-37) in World War II
History
United States
Name	San Pedro
Namesake	City ofSan Pedro, California
Builder	Consolidated Steel Corporation,Wilmington, California
Reclassified	PF-37, 15 April 1943
Laid down	17 April 1943
Launched	11 June 1943
Sponsored by	Miss Virginia Ann Massee
Commissioned	23 October 1943
Decommissioned	12 July 1945
Honors & awards	4 ×battle stars,World War II
Fate	Transferred to theSoviet Navy, 12 July 1945[1]
Acquired	Returned by Soviet Navy, 17 October 1949
Fate	Transferred to theJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 2 April 1953
Acquired	Returned by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 26 July 1978
Fate	Sunk as target
Stricken	1 December 1961
Soviet Union
Name	EK-5
Acquired	12 July 1945[1]
Commissioned	12 July 1945[2]
Fate	Returned to US, 17 October 1949
Japan
Name	Kaya
Acquired	2 April 1953
Renamed	YAC-23, 1966
Decommissioned	1 April 1977
Fate	Returned to United States, 26 July 1978
General characteristics
Class & type	Tacoma-class frigate
Displacement	1,264long tons (1,284 t)
Length	303 ft 11 in (92.63 m)
Beam	37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)
Draft	13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Propulsion	2 × 5,500 shp (4,101 kW)turbines 3boilers 2 shafts
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement	190
Armament	3 ×3"/50 dual purpose guns (3x1) 4 x40 mm guns (2×2) 9 ×20 mm guns (9×1) 1 ×Hedgehoganti-submarine mortar 8 ×Y-gun depth charge projectors 2 × Depth charge tracks

USSSan Pedro (PF-37), aTacoma-classfrigate in commission from 1943 to 1945, thus far has been the only ship of theUnited States Navy to be named forSan Pedro, California. She later served in theSoviet Navy asEK-5 and in theJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force asKaya (PF-8),Kaya (PF-288) and asYAC-23.

Originally classified as a patrolgunboat,PG-145,San Pedro was reclassified as apatrol frigate,PF-37, on 15 April 1943. She waslaid down underMaritime Commission contract (MC hull 1448) at theConsolidated Steel Corporation inWilmington,California, on 17 April 1943,launched on 11 June 1943, sponsored by Miss Virginia Ann Massee, andcommissioned on 23 October 1943.

Followingshakedown,San Pedro departed for theSouthwest Pacific. She performedescort duty briefly in theAdmiralty Islands at the beginning of April 1944, and at the end of the month became part of forces attempting to consolidate the westernNew Guinea area. Her first mission took her toHollandia, and she subsequently advanced toBiak in June 1944,Noemfoor Island in July 1944, andCape Sansapor in August 1944. During September 1944, she escorted aconvoy oftugs andbarges toMorotai with sufficient equipment to set up a fully equipped base forPT boats.

On 18 October 1944,San Pedro departed with aconvoy bound for the initial assault onLeyte in thePhilippine Islands. She helped repulseJapanese air attacks beginning on 24 October 1944, shooting down two aircraft before the end of the month. While operations continued ashore,San Pedro escorted resupply convoys betweenHollandia andLeyte. On 5 December 1944, a single Japanese plane attacked one of these convoys near Leyte, torpedoed theLiberty shipSS Antoine Saugrain,^[3] and escaped by flying through the convoy atmasthead height. It then led a companion in for a re-attack and scored a second and fatal hit on the haplessmerchant ship.San Pedro rescued 178 survivors and, at the same time, helped repulse a third attack on the sinking ship.

San Pedro departed theSouthwest Pacific on 17 December 1944 and headed towardBoston,Massachusetts, foroverhaul.

Upon completion of repairs,San Pedro got underway fromCasco Bay, Maine, on 28 March 1945 as part of Escort Division 25 – which also included hersister shipsUSS Long Beach (PF-34) (theflagship),USS Belfast (PF-35),USS Glendale (PF-36),USS Coronado (PF-38), andUSS Ogden (PF-39) – bound forSeattle,Washington, via thePanama Canal. The six patrol frigates arrived at Seattle on 26 April 1945. They got underway again forKodiak in theTerritory of Alaska on 7 June 1945.Ogden had to return to Seattle for repairs, butBelfast and the other four frigates arrived atWomens Bay, Kodiak, on 11 June 1945.^[4]

On 13 June 1945,San Pedro,Long Beach,Belfast,Glendale,Coronado, and their sister shipsUSS Charlottesville (PF-25),USS Allentown (PF-52),USS Machias (PF-53), andUSS Sandusky (PF-54) got underway from Kodiak forCold Bay, Alaska, where they arrived on 14 June 1945 to participate inProject Hula, a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to theSoviet Navy in anticipation of theSoviet Union joining the war against Japan. Training ofSan Pedro's new Soviet Navy crew soon began at Cold Bay.^[5]

San Pedro wasdecommissioned on 12 July 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union underLend-Lease immediately^[1] along with nine of her sister ships, the first group of patrol frigates transferred to the Soviet Navy. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,^[2]San Pedro was designated as astorozhevoi korabl ("escort ship") and renamedEK-5 in Soviet service. On 15 July 1945,EK-5 departed Cold Bay in company with nine of her sister ships –EK-1 (ex-Charlottesville),EK-2 (ex-Long Beach),EK-3 (ex-Belfast),EK-4 (ex-Machias),EK-6 (ex-Glendale),EK-7 (ex-Sandusky),EK-8 (ex-Coronado),EK-9 (ex-Allentown), andEK-10 (ex-Ogden) – bound forPetropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union.EK-5 served as a patrol vessel in theSoviet Far East.^[6]

In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II. On 8 May 1947,United States Secretary of the NavyJames V. Forrestal informed theUnited States Department of State that theUnited States Department of the Navy wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned,EK-5 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships was protracted, but on 17 October 1949 the Soviet Union finally returnedEK-5 to the U.S. Navy atYokosuka, Japan.^[7]

Reverting to her former name,San Pedro lay idle until the United States loaned her toJapan on 2 April 1953, and she entered service in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force asKaya (PF-8) (かや (PF-8); "torreya nucifera").^[8]Kaya was redesignatedPF-288 on 1 September 1957.^[8] The U.S. Navy struck her from theNavy list on 1 December 1961 and transferred her outright to Japan on 28 August 1962. Later reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" and renamedYAC-23,^[8] the ship was decommissioned on 1 April 1977, and returned to United States custody on 26 July 1978. She was sunk as a target ship.

The U.S. Navy awardedSan Pedro fourbattle stars for herWorld War II service.

•  This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.

• Photo gallery ofSan Pedro at NavSource Naval History
• hazegray.org: USSSan Pedro
• Guide: Naming Ships
• "The Naval Database: JMSDF Kusu class patrol frigate (PF288) Kaya" (in Japanese). Retrieved22 September 2014.

• Tacoma-class frigates
• Ships built in Los Angeles
• 1943 ships
• World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States
• Tacoma-class frigates of the Soviet Navy
• World War II frigates of the Soviet Union
• Cold War frigates of the Soviet Union
• Tacoma-class frigates of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
• Ships transferred under Project Hula
• Ships sunk as targets

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