| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Evansville |
| Namesake | City ofEvansville, Indiana |
| Reclassified | PF-70, 15 April 1943 |
| Builder | Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company,Sturgeon Bay,Wisconsin |
| Yard number | 313 |
| Laid down | 28 August 1943 |
| Launched | 27 November 1943 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. Don Davis |
| Commissioned | 4 December 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 4 September 1945[1] |
| Fate | Transferred to theSoviet Navy, 4 September 1945 |
| Acquired | Returned by Soviet Navy, 1949 |
| Recommissioned | 29 July 1950 |
| Decommissioned | 28 February 1953 |
| Fate | Transferred toJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 31 October 1953 |
| Acquired | Returned by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, 15 October 1976 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1977 |
 Soviet Union | |
| Name | EK-30[2] |
| Acquired | 4 September 1945 |
| Commissioned | 4 September 1945[3] |
| Fate | Returned to United States, 1949 |
 Japan | |
| Name | Keyaki |
| Acquired | 31 October 1953 |
| Renamed | YAC-21, 1970 |
| Reclassified | Auxiliary stock craft (YAC), 1970 |
| Decommissioned | 31 March 1976 |
| Fate | Returned to United States, 15 October 1976 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Tacoma-class frigate |
| 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) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 17knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Complement | 190 |
| Armament |
|
USSEvansville (PF-70), aTacoma-classfrigate in commission from 1944 to 1945 and from 1950 to 1953, was the second ship of theUnited States Navy to be named forEvansville, Indiana. She also served in theSoviet Navy asEK-30 and in theJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force asJDSKeyaki (PF-15),JDSKeyaki (PF-295) andYAC-21.
Evansville waslaunched on 27 November 1943, by theLeathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company atSturgeon Bay,Wisconsin, sponsored by Mrs. Don Davis, daughter of the Mayor of Evansville,Indiana. She wascommissioned on 4 December 1944.
Evansville steamed down theMississippi River and after calling atMobile,Alabama, reachedCharleston,South Carolina, on 31 December 1944. Through the next six months, she had escort duty along theUnited States East Coast and toBermuda, patrolled offNew York, and served briefly as aweather ship onocean weather stations.
Earmarked for transfer to theSoviet Navy inProject Hula, a secret program atCold Bay in theTerritory of Alaska for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy in anticipation of theSoviet Union joining thewar against Japan,Evansville departedNew York City on 9 July 1945, transited thePanama Canal, and steamed toSan Diego,California andSeattle,Washington, before proceeding to Cold Bay. Training of her new Soviet crew soon began.[4]
Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew,Evansville wasdecommissioned on 4 September 1945[1] at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union[1] underLend-Lease immediately along with hersister shipsUSS Gloucester (PF-22),USS Newport (PF-27), andUSS Bath (PF-55), the last of 28 patrol frigates transferred to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,[3]Newport was designated as astorozhevoi korabl ("escort ship") and renamedEK-30[2] in Soviet service.[5]
On 5 September 1945, all ship transfers to the Soviet Union were ordered stopped, although training for ships already transferred was allowed to continue. Accordingly,EK-30 remained at Cold Bay along withEK-26 (ex-Gloucester),EK-28 (ex-Newport), andEK-29 (ex-Bath) for additionalshakedown and training until 17 September 1945, when all four ships departed in company bound forPetropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the Soviet Union, the last four of the 149 Project Hula ships to do so. Too late forWorld War II service with the Soviet Navy,EK-30 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-30 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but in October or November 1949 the Soviet Union finally returnedEK-30 to the U.S. Navy atYokosuka, Japan.[7]
Reverting to her original name,Evansville lay idle in thePacific Reserve Fleet at Yokosuka until the U.S. Navy recommissioned her for service in theKorean War on 29 July 1950. During the war, she patrolled out of Yokosuka and inKorean waters until decommissioned on 28 February 1953.
On 31 October 1953, the ship was transferred under theMutual Defense Assistance Program toJapan for service in theJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force, which she served asJDSKeyaki (PF-15) (けやき (PF-15), "zelkova serrata").[8] The JMSDF reclassified her asPF-295 on 1 September 1957.[8] Reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" (YAC) and renamedYAC-21,[8] the ship was decommissioned on 31 March 1976 and returned to U.S. custody on 15 October 1976 for disposal. She was scrapped in 1977.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.Project Hula ships | |||||||||||||
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