USS Alexandria, PF-18

March 22, 2021 PRINT | E-MAIL

USS Alexandria, PF-18  

 

A city in northern Virginia on the bank of the Potomac River.

 

Builder:  American Ship Building Company, Lorain, OH

Length:  303' 11"

Beam:  37' 6"

Draft:  12' 8" fl

Displacement: 2,230 tons

Propulsion:  2-shaft VTE, 3 boilers

Range:  9,500 nm at 12 knots

Top speed:  20 knots

Complement:  190

Armament: 3 x 3"/50; 2 x 40mm (2x2); 9 x 20mm; 1 x Hedgehog, 8 x depth charge projectors; 2 x depth charge racks.  For those frigates fitted out for weather patrol duty, the after 3-inch gun was removed and a weather balloon hanger was added aft.

 

History:

The second warship named Alexandria, PF-18, was launched 15 January 1944 by American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio, under a Maritime Commission contract.  She was sponsored by Mrs. J. L. Hall, Jr.  She was commissioned on 11 March 1945 under the command of LCDR C. G. Houtsma, USCG, in command.  She then reported to the Atlantic Fleet.

The Alexandria proceeded at once for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for shakedown, after which she reported at Norfolk.  At the end of her availability there, the frigate was sent to Casco Bay, Maine, for additional training.  While stationed there the crew got their first taste of combat duty when the frigate received emergency orders to join a killer group hunting for a German U-boat.  She was on this mission on VE-day.

Between 14 June 1945 and 12 February 1946 the Coast Guard manned Alexandria served on weather patrol off Newfoundland.  She was decommissioned 10 April 1946 and sold 18 April 1947.  

 

Sources:

The Coast Guard At War, Transports and Escorts, Vol. V, No. 1, p. 142.  

Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946.  London: Conway Maritime Press, 1992, pp. 148-149.

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. 1, p. 28.