%2c_Newport_Beach_11_January_1944.jpg) USSVan Buren (PF-42) conducting a speed trial over the measured mile offBalboa Peninsula,Newport Beach, California, 11 January 1944 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Van Buren |
| Namesake | City ofVan Buren, Arkansas |
| Ordered | as aType S2-S2-AQ1 hull,MCE hull 1453[1] |
| Builder | Consolidated Steel Corporation,Wilmington, California |
| Reclassified | Patrol Frigate (PF), 15 April 1943 |
| Laid down | 24 June 1943 |
| Launched | 27 July 1943 |
| Commissioned | 17 December 1943 |
| Decommissioned | 6 May 1946 |
| Stricken | 19 June 1946 |
| Identification |
|
| Honors & awards |  3 ×battle stars |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping, 1946 |
| General characteristics[2] | |
| Class & type | Tacoma-classfrigate |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 303 ft 11 in (92.63 m) |
| Beam | 37 ft 6 in (11.43 m) |
| Draft | 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m) |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 20.3 kn (37.6 km/h; 23.4 mph) |
| Complement | 190 |
| Armament |
|
USSVan Buren (PG-150/PF-42), aTacoma-class frigatepatrol frigate, was the second ship of theUnited States Navy to hold this name. The firstVan Buren, arevenue cutter, was named forPresidentMartin Van Buren; the secondVan Buren honorsVan Buren, Arkansas.[3]
Van Buren, originally classified aspatrol gunboatPG-150 and reclassified apatrol frigate 15 April 1943, was laid down under aMaritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 1453, on 24 June 1943, at theConsolidated Steel Corporation shipyard inWilmington, California; launched on 27 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Edward J. O'Hara; and commissioned atTerminal Island, on 17 December 1943.[4]
Van Buren conductedshakedown testing off the US west coast before departingSan Pedro, California, on 9 March 1944, bound for thewestern Pacific. She sailed in company with hersister shipOgden, escorting the merchant tanker SSFort Erie toEspiritu Santo from 23 to 29 March. Departing that port on 30 March, she arrived atMilne Bay,New Guinea, on 2 April.[4]
On 21 April,Vice AdmiralMarc Mitscher's task force ofaircraft carriers,battleships,cruisers anddestroyers began poundingJapaneseairfields and defensive positions onHollandia,Wakde Airfield,Sawar Airfield andSarmi,Western New Guinea, to neutralize them during an impending amphibious operation under the command ofRear AdmiralDaniel E. Barbey. The next day,Army troops began landing atAitape andHumboldt Bay.Van Buren escortedconvoys supporting this operation into May and June.[4]
As Army forces encountered enemy resistance ashore, naval units were often called on for gunfire support.Van Buren received such a request on the afternoon of 9 June. At 1740, the patrol frigate opened with her main battery, firing salvoes at Japanese troop concentrations near a road in the Sarmi-Sawar sector. Ten days later, the warship again provided gunfire support for the Army near Maffin Village. The next day,Van Buren lobbed 150 rounds of 3-inch (76 mm) and 180 of 40-millimeter (1.6 in) into the Maffin Village sector, with an Armyspotting plane providing information on enemy positions. Lying just off the beach,Van Buren demolished her targets and started many fires. An Army plane again provided call-fire guidance on 23 June, whenVan Buren once more supported Army troops struggling against the Japanese defenders, breaking up troop concentrations and destroying communications and supplies.[4]
Van Buren subsequently screened the ships supporting theCape Sansapor operations in August, and continued escort operations into autumn. On 10 November,Van Buren departed Humboldt Bay, bound for Cape Sansapor with a convoy of fourLSTs (LST-654,LST-465,LST-471, andLST-697). En route on 16 November, its crew saw an Army plane crash four miles (6.4 km) away. They altered course and used the ship's motorwhaleboat to rescue the aircraft's crew, unhurt.[4]
One week later, during operations in thePhilippines,Van Buren went togeneral quarters whenEl Paso radioed contact with an unidentified plane closing on their vicinity.Van Buren's SA radar picked up the enemy at 18 mi (29 km); her SL receivers picked up the contact at 6 mi (9.7 km). Although ready for action, the frigate did not get a chance to engage, as the plane veered away and passed along the opposite side of the convoy, well beyond gun range.[4]
Van Buren continued her convoy escort and screening duties with the7th Amphibious Force in the Philippines, into late 1944. After escorting a convoy toLeyte in mid-December,Van Buren sailed via Manus, in theAdmiralties, toHawaii. Arriving atPearl Harbor on 2 January 1945,Van Buren operated as a training ship attached to theU.S. Pacific Fleet's destroyer forces through the spring of 1945. Shifting to the west coast of theUnited States, soon thereafter, the patrol vessel arrived atSan Francisco, on 2 July. Assigned to Commander,Western Sea Frontier,Van Buren was fitted out as aweather ship and served in that capacity through the end of hostilities with Japan and into the year 1946.[4]
Departing San Francisco, on 13 March 1946,Van Buren transited thePanama Canal, and arrived atCharleston, South Carolina, on 3 April. Decommissioned there on 6 May 1946,Van Buren was struck from theNavy List on 19 June 1946, and sold soon thereafter to theSun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company ofChester, Pennsylvania, for scrapping.[4]
Van Buren received threebattle stars forWorld War II service.[4]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
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