USS Grand Forks

	The USS Grand Forks just after launch
History
United States
Name	USS Grand Forks (PF-11)
Namesake	Grand Forks, North Dakota
Builder	Kaiser Shipyards at Richmond, California
Launched	27 November 1943
Commissioned	18 March 1944
Decommissioned	16 May 1946
Stricken	19 June 1946
Fate	Scrapped 1 November 1947
General characteristics
Class and type	Tacoma-class frigate
Displacement	1,430 tons (light); 2,415 tons (full);
Length	303 ft 11 in (92.6 m)
Beam	37 ft 6 in (11.4 m)
Draft	13 ft 8 in (4.1 m)
Propulsion	three boilers; 2 × 5,500 SHP turbines; two shafts;
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement	190
Armament	3 × 3 in/50 AA guns (3x1); 4 × 40mm guns (2x2); 9 × 20mm (9x1); 1 × Hedgehog projector; 8 × Y-gun depth charge projectors; 2 × depth charge racks;

USS Grand Forks (PF-11), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Grand Forks was launched at the Kaiser Shipyards at Richmond, California on 27 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. T. H. Thoreson; and commissioned on 18 March 1944, with Lieutenant Commander Christian W. Peterson, USCG, in command.

After shakedown, on 7 August 1944 Grand Forks sailed from San Francisco, California, to take station in the Northern Pacific off the California coast as a plane guard ship, returning to San Francisco on 3 September. She continued on this duty until decommissioning, spending an average of 3 weeks at sea and 2 in port. Late in the night 11 October 1944, Grand Forks picked up a distress call from a PB2Y about to make an emergency landing. Sending up flares and star shells to guide the plane through the dark, Grand Forks rescued 15 crewmen and passengers from the sea, as well as 114 sacks of mail.

While in port from guard duty on 31 May 1945, Grand Forks was toured by several members of the American delegation to the San Francisco Peace Conference, including Secretary of State and Mrs. Edward Stettinius, Nelson Rockefeller, and Alger Hiss.

She continued on plane guard duty until 19 March 1946 and then sailed from San Francisco to Charleston, South Carolina, where she decommissioned on 16 May 1946. Grand Forks was stricken from the Navy Register on 19 June 1946; sold to J. C. Berkwit & Company of New York on 19 May 1947, and scrapped starting on 1 November 1947.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links