USS Uniontown

USS Chattanooga (PF-65) is launched at the Leatham D. Smith Shipbuilding Company shipyard at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, on 7 August 1943, a year before she was renamed USS Uniontown just prior to commissioning.
History
United States
Name
  • Chattanooga (1943–1944)
  • Uniontown (1944–1947)
Namesake
  • City of Chattanooga, Tennessee
  • City of Uniontown, Pennsylvania
BuilderLeatham D. Smith Shipbuilding Company, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Laid down21 April 1943
Launched7 August 1943
Commissioned6 October 1944
Decommissioned20 December 1945
RenamedUniontown, 16 August 1944
ReclassifiedPF-65, 15 April 1943
Stricken8 January 1946
FateSold to Argentina, July 1947
Argentina
NameSarandi
AcquiredJuly 1947
Decommissioned1968
FateUnknown
General characteristics
Class and typeTacoma-class frigate
Displacement1,264 long tons (1,284 t)
Length303 ft 11 in (92.63 m)
Beam37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)
Draft13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 × 5,500 shp (4,101 kW) turbines
  • 3 boilers
  • 2 shafts
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement190
Armament
  • 3 × 3"/50 dual purpose guns (3x1)
  • 4 x 40 mm guns (2×2)
  • 9 × 20 mm guns (9×1)
  • 1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar
  • 8 × Y-gun depth charge projectors
  • 2 × Depth charge tracks

USS Uniontown (PF-65), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

Construction

The ship was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1489) as Chattanooga on 21 April 1943, at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, by the Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company. Launched on 7 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Cecilia Daniel, and brought to New Orleans, for completion on 4 April 1944. She was renamed Uniontown on 16 August 1944, to free the name Chattanooga for the Fargo-class light cruiser CL-118, and commissioned on 6 October 1944.

Service history

World War II

Following shakedown in the Caribbean and a brief visit to Charleston, South Carolina, Uniontown joined Task Force 61 at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 27 December 1944 for duty as a convoy escort. Two days later, the Coast Guard-manned escort vessel got underway for the first of three round-trip voyages across the Atlantic, escorting convoys to Oran, Algeria, and back. Her first round trip lasted from 29 December 1944 to 11 February 1945; the second round trip commenced on 15 March and ended with the ship's return to New York on 9 April. On 28 April, Uniontown got underway for North Africa and her last wartime convoy escort run.

While en route to Algeria, Uniontown received word that German forces had surrendered at Rheims on 7 May, ending the long European war. Arriving at Oran on the 13th, Uniontown soon got underway for the United States and reached Philadelphia, on 8 June for conversion to a weather ship. On 3 July, outfitted for weather patrol duties, she set out for Newfoundland, and arrived at NS Argentia two days later.

On 13 July, Uniontown commenced operations at Weather Station No. 3 and remained on station until 2 August. The ship returned to Grønnedal, Greenland, from 3 to 20 August in between deployments on weather patrol. The frigate served on Weather Station No. 1 from 22 August to 11 September, and subsequently at Weather Station No. 3 from 2 to 20 October before she returned to the Boston Navy Yard. A month later, Uniontown headed for Hampton Roads and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 30 November 1945.

Postwar

On 20 December 1945, the warship was decommissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 January 1946.

After being turned over to the State Department Liquidation Commission, she was then sold to the Argentine government in July 1947, in whose service she was renamed ARA Sarandi (P-33). She served until 1968. Fate unknown.

References

Public Domain This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

  • Photo gallery of Uniontown at NavSource Naval History
  • hazegray.org: USS Uniontown
  • Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center Online Library of Selected Images: U.S. Navy Ships: USS Uniontown (PF-65), 1944–1946. Name changed from Chattanooga before completion
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Tacoma-class frigates
 United States Navy
Completed
  • Tacoma
  • Sausalito
  • Hoquiam
  • Pasco
  • Albuquerque
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  • Bridgeport / Abilene
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  • Worcester / Gladwyne
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  • Chattanooga / Uniontown
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Canceled
  • Stamford
  • Macon
  • Vallejo / Lorain (PF-97)
  • Milledgeville (PF-98)
 Royal Navy
Colony class
  • Anguilla (ex-Machias (PF-72))
  • Antigua (ex-Hamond)
  • Ascension (ex-Hargood)
  • Bahamas (ex-Hotham)
  • Barbados (ex-Halstead)
  • Caicos (ex-Hannam)
  • Cayman (ex-Harland)
  • Dominica (ex-Harman)
  • Gold Coast / Labuan (ex-Harvey)
  • Hong Kong / Tobago (ex-Holmes)
  • Montserrat (ex-Hornby)
  • Nyasaland (ex-Hoste)
  • Papua (ex-Howett)
  • Pitcairn (ex-Pilford)
  • St. Helena (ex-Pasley)
  • Sarawak (ex-Patton)
  • Seychelles (ex-Pearl)
  • Sierra Leone / Perim (ex-Phillimore)
  • Somaliland (ex-Popham)
  • Tortola (ex-Peyton)
  • Zanzibar (ex-Prowse)
 Soviet Navy
  • EK-1 (ex-Charlottesville)
  • EK-2 (ex-Long Beach)
  • EK-3 (ex-Belfast)
  • EK-4 (ex-Machias (PF-53))
  • EK-5 (ex-San Pedro)
  • EK-6 (ex-Glendale)
  • EK-7 (ex-Sandusky)
  • EK-8 (ex-Coronado)
  • EK-9 (ex-Allentown)
  • EK-10 (ex-Ogden)
  • EK-11 (ex-Tacoma)
  • EK-12 (ex-Pasco)
  • EK-13 (ex-Hoquiam)
  • EK-14 (ex-Albuquerque)
  • EK-15 (ex-Everett)
  • EK-16 (ex-Sausalito)
  • EK-17 (ex-Bisbee)
  • EK-18 (ex-Rockford)
  • EK-19 (ex-Muskogee)
  • EK-20 (ex-Carson City)
  • EK-21 (ex-Burlington)
  • EK-22 (ex-Gallup)
  • EK-25 (ex-Bayonne)
  • EK-26 (ex-Gloucester)
  • EK-27 (ex-Poughkeepsie)
  • EK-28 (ex-Newport)
  • EK-29 (ex-Bath)
  • EK-30 (ex-Evansville)
Post-World War II operators
United States Coast Guard
  • Brownsville
  • Bangor
  • Muskegon
  • Woonsocket
  • Corpus Christi
  • Covington
  • Sheboygan
  • Beaufort
  • Manitowoc
  • Forsyth
 Argentine Navy
  • Heroína (ex-Reading)
  • Sarandí (ex-Uniontown)
  • Trinidad / Santísima Trinidad / Comodoro Augusto Lasserre (ex-Caicos)
 Belgian Navy
  • Lieutenant ter zee Victor Billet (ex-Sheboygan)
 Colombian National Navy
  • Almirante Padilla (ex-Groton)
  • Capitán Tono (ex-Bisbee)
  • Almirante Brión (ex-Burlington)
 Cuban Revolutionary Navy
  • José Martí (ex-Eugene)
  • Antonio Maceo (ex-Peoria)
  • Maximo Gomez (ex-Grand Island)
 Dominican Navy
  • Presidente Troncoso / Gregorio Luperón (ex-Pueblo)
  • Presidente Peynado / Capitán General Pedro Santana (ex-Knoxville)
 Ecuadorian Navy
  • Guayas (ex-Covington)
 French Navy
  • La Place (ex-Lorain (PF-93))
  • Mermoz (ex-Muskegon)
  • Le Brix (F715) (ex-Manitowoc)
  • Le Verrier (ex-Emporia)
 Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
  • Kusu / YAC-22 (ex-Ogden)
  • Nara / YTE-8 (ex-Machias (PF-53))
  • Kashi / YAC-12 (ex-Pasco)
  • Momi / YAC-13 (ex-Poughkeepsie)
  • Sugi (ex-Coronado)
  • Matsu / YAS-36 (ex-Charlottesville)
  • Nire / YAC-19 (ex-Sandusky)
  • Kaya / YAC-23 (ex-San Pedro)
  • Ume / YAC-14 (ex-Allentown)
  • Sakura / YAC-16 (ex-Carson City)
  • Kiri / YAC-20 (ex-Everett)
  • Tsuge (ex-Gloucester)
  • Kaede / YAC-17 (ex-Newport)
  • Buna / YAC-11 (ex-Bayonne)
  • Keyaki / YAC-21 (ex-Evansville)
  • Tochi / YAC-15 (ex-Albuquerque)
  • Shii / YAS-44 (ex-Long Beach)
  • Maki / YTE-9 (ex-Bath)
 Republic of Korea Navy
  • Duman (ex-Muskogee)
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 Mexican Navy
  • California (ex-Hutchinson)
  • General José María Morelos / Golfo de Tehuantepec (ex-Bangor)
  • General Vicente Guerrero / Río Usumacinta (ex-Annapolis)
  • Papaloapan (ex-Gladwyne)
Netherlands Government
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 Peruvian Navy
  • Teniente Gálvez / Gálvez (ex-Woonsocket)
 Royal Thai Navy
  • Tachin (ex-Glendale)
  • Prasae (ex-Gallup)
  • Preceded by: Asheville class (USN) / River class (RN)
  • Followed by: None
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Tacoma-class frigates
  • Brunswick
  • Davenport
  • Evansville
  • Knoxville
  • New Bedford
  • Peoria
  • Reading
  • Uniontown
PC-461-class submarine chasers
  • PC-496
  • PC-550
  • PC-551
  • PC-588
  • PC-589
  • PC-590
  • PC-591
  • PC-821
  • PC-822
  • PC-823
  • PC-824
  • PC-825
  • PC-1171
  • PC-1172
  • PC-1173
  • PC-1174
  • PC-1175
  • PC-1176
  • PC-1177
  • PC-1178
  • PC-1179 / Morris
  • PC-1180
  • PC-1225
  • PC-1226
  • PC-1227
  • PC-1228 / Munising
  • PC-1229
  • PC-1230 / Grinnell
  • PC-1260
  • PC-1261
  • PC-1262
  • PC-1263
  • PC-1560
  • PC-1561
  • PC-1562
  • PC-1563
  • PC-1564
  • PC-1565
  • PC-1566
  • PC-1567
  • PC-1568
  • PC-1569
Alamosa-class cargo ships
Type C1-M-AV1 ships
  • Poinsett
  • Pontotoc
  • Richland
  • Rockdale
  • Schuyler
  • Screven
  • Sebastian
  • Somerset / Coastal Sentry
  • Sussex
  • Tarrant
  • Tipton
  • Traverse*
  • Tulare**
  • Washtenaw / Sgt. George Peterson
  • Westchester#
  • Wexford / Coastal Crusader
Net laying ships
  • Passaic
  • Shakamaxon
  • Tonawanda
  • * = Canceled August 1945, but completed as Coastal Merchant
  • ** = Canceled August 1945, but completed as Coastal Challenger
  • † = Canceled August 1945, but completed as Coastal Guide
  • # = Canceled August 1945, but completed as Coastal Defender
  • ‡ = Canceled August 1945, but completed as Coastal Crusader