USS Sampson (DD-394)

Figure 1: USS Sampson (DD-394) photographed circa the later 1930s. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Sampson (DD-394) tied up alongside a sister ship, circa the later 1930s. Courtesy of the Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Ted Stone Collection. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Sampson (DD-394) steaming near USS Saratoga (CV-3), circa 1940. Note the safety net at the side of Saratoga's flight deck, and the TBD-1 torpedo planes parked nearby. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Sampson (DD-394) underway at sea, circa 1939-1940. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Sampson (DD-394) underway in the Gulf of Panama, 14 March 1943. Though the pattern is not visible in this photograph, Sampson is painted in the very pale pattern of Measure 16 (Thayer system) camouflage. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Sampson (DD-394) underway in the Gulf of Panama, 14 March 1943. Halftone reproduction, published by the Division of Naval Intelligence in June 1943 for ship recognition purposes. Sampson is painted in the very pale pattern of Measure 16 (Thayer system) camouflage, which is faintly visible in this view. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Sampson (DD-394) underway in the Gulf of Panama, 14 March 1943. Halftone reproduction, published by the Division of Naval Intelligence in June 1943 for ship recognition purposes. Sampson is painted in the very pale pattern of Measure 16 (Thayer system) camouflage. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Sampson (DD-394) off the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 27 September 1944. She is wearing Camouflage Design 3D, presumably in Measure 32. However, the darkest tone looks rather light to be the dull black of Measure 32 and might be Measure 33's navy blue. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: US Navy ships at Bora Bora, Society Islands. A destroyer and a light cruiser in Teavanui Harbor, February 1942. The cruiser (with four smokestacks) is probably USS Trenton (CL-11), and the destroyer is probably USS Sampson (DD-394). Note their camouflage: Measure 12 on the cruiser and the mottled pattern of Measure 12 (Modified) on the destroyer. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after Rear Admiral William T. Sampson (1840-1902), who was the victor of the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on 3 July 1898, the 2,130-ton USS Sampson (DD-394) was a Somers class destroyer that was built by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and was commissioned on 19 August 1938. The ship was approximately 381 feet long and 36 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 287 officers and men. Sampson was armed with eight 5-inch guns, a variety of anti-aircraft guns, 12 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

After completing her shakedown cruise in Europe, Sampson patrolled off the east coast of the United States and in the Caribbean until April 1939, when she was sent to the Pacific. Sampson spent the next two years participating in naval maneuvers off the Hawaiian Islands and off America’s west coast. The ship returned to the Atlantic at the end of 1940 and on 3 September 1941, Sampson left Boston, Massachusetts, to participate in Neutrality Patrols, escorting merchant ships between Newfoundland and Iceland. The destroyer reached Iceland on 16 September and then left on October 23 to escort a convoy that was headed back to Boston. Sampson and her brood of merchant ships reached Boston on 4 November 1941.

After America entered the war on 7 December 1941, Sampson went on anti-submarine patrols off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island, along with the destroyer USS Warrington (DD-383). She continued this assignment until 12 January 1942, when the two ships were sent to the Panama Canal. Sampson arrived at Balboa, Panama Canal Zone, on 17 January and was ordered to join the Southeast Pacific Forces that were based there. Throughout the next year, Sampson was assigned to patrol and escort duties along the western seaboard of Latin America and westward as far as the Society and Galapagos Islands. Beginning in May 1943, Sampson‘s convoy escort duties were extended to the southwest Pacific and she remained in that area until the beginning of August. Sampson was based at both Noumea, New Caledonia, and at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands. From both of these bases, Sampson escorted merchant ships and troop ships to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. On the night of 2-3 October 1943, while escorting a convoy from Nounea to Espiritu Santo, Sampson fired on a Japanese submarine. The submarine quickly submerged, but Sampson dropped depth charges over it, resulting in a heavy oil slick coming from where the submarine was thought to be.

On 15 March 1944, Sampson and four other destroyers left Espiritu Santo and escorted the carriers USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62) and USS Manila Bay (CVE-61). They were then joined by four battleships and several more destroyers, all coming together as one large task force. On 20 March, the ships attacked Kavieng in New Ireland in a major air-sea assault. While the ships bombarded the island, aircraft from the carriers pounded shore targets as well. At the same time, the Fourth Marine Regiment made an unopposed landing on Emirau Island, off the northern coast of New Ireland. Taking Emirau Island enabled the Marines to keep New Ireland under surveillance without having to actually occupy it. After escorting the carriers and providing anti-aircraft support for the troop transports that were bringing reinforcements to Emirau Island, Sampson escorted a convoy back to Espiritu Santo. Then in April 1944, Sampson joined the Seventh Fleet and participated in amphibious operations along the northern shore of New Guinea.

During the invasion of Biak Island in the Schouten Island chain, Sampson and the amphibious group she was escorting were attacked by four Japanese twin-engine bombers. Anti-aircraft fire from Sampson and the other escorts shot down two of the bombers and damaged another, which flew away with one of its engines on fire. The fourth enemy plane, which also was on fire, tried to crash into Sampson. But as the burning plane rapidly approached the destroyer, Sampson’s anti-aircraft gunners managed to knock off one of the bomber’s wings. The flaming aircraft passed directly over Sampson’s bridge and hit the water. What was left of the plane bounced off the surface of the water and slammed into a nearby American patrol boat, SC-699. The small ship was immediately engulfed in flames, but the stout little vessel managed to put out the fires and stay afloat.

Sampson returned to the Atlantic in June of 1944. She was used as a convoy escort and over the next eleven months made five round-trip voyages between the east coast of the United States and ports located in the Mediterranean. Sampson then was used as a training ship during the late summer of 1945 and was decommissioned on 1 November 1945 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. USS Sampson was sold for scrapping on 29 March 1946.

USS Luzon (PG-47, PR-7)

Figure 1: USS Luzon, date and place unknown. US Naval Institute photograph, Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey California, Yangtze River Patrol Memorial Exhibit. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: "River Gun Boat -- Tunnel Stern Type," September 8, 1924. Preliminary design plan for a river gunboat for operation in Chinese waters. This drawing represents the final preliminary design forwarded on 8 October 1924 to the Secretary of the Navy and approved on 16 December 1924 for ships that were planned to be built under the Fiscal Year 1924 building program. This design was based on diesel machinery and propellers aft operating inside tunnels. However, the six ships built at this time [two each of the Guam (PG-43), Panay (PG-45), and Luzon (PG-47) classes] used plans provided by the Chinese shipbuilder that differed in detail from this preliminary design. This plan provided two 3-inch guns, diesel machinery, and a speed of 15 knots in a ship 180 feet long on the waterline, 27 feet in beam, and with a normal displacement of 385 tons in fresh water. Note: The original document was ink on linen (black on white). The original plan is in the 1911-1925 "Spring Styles Book." US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after the main island in the northern Philippines, USS Luzon (PG-47) was one of six American gunboats built by the Kiangnan Dockyard and Engineering Works in Shanghai, China. Commissioned on 1 June 1928, Luzon was part of the US Asiatic Fleet and was built specifically for patrolling China’s Yangtze River. American ships that were assigned to the Yangtze were part of the famous “Yangtze Patrol,” which existed for almost 90 years. The 500-ton Luzon was approximately 210 feet long, had a beam of 31 feet, but only had a draft of 6 feet, making her ideal for steaming in some of the shallower waters of the Yangtze. She was armed with two 3-inch guns and ten .30-caliber machine guns, and had a top speed of 16 knots. Luzon also had a complement of 80 officers and men.

Although designated PG-47 when she was commissioned on 1 June 1928, Luzon was re-designated PR-7 on 15 June. From that time until December 1938, Luzon served as the flagship for the Yangtze Patrol and was based at Hankow. She usually patrolled the waters between Nanking, Chunking, and Shanghai, protecting American lives and property in a part of China that was infested with bandits and under almost constant political instability. In August 1937, after invading Japanese forces attacked Shanghai, Luzon also evacuated the American Embassy staff there and brought them safely to Chunking.

In December 1938, Luzon arrived at Shanghai and relieved USS Augusta (CA-31) as the station ship there. Aside from periodic trips to Nanking, Wuhu, and other ports along the Yangtze River, Luzon remained based at Shanghai until 1941. In 1941, the five remaining American river gunboats in China were assigned to Rear Admiral William A. Glassford, Commander of the Yangtze Patrol, whose headquarters was in Hankow. In late November 1941, Glassford was ordered to take three of the largest gunboats and try to steam to Manila in the Philippines. The two smallest gunboats, USS Wake and USS Tutuila, were thought to be incapable of making the trip to the Philippines. The gunboat USS Mindanao, which was based in Hong Kong, had to make the trip on her own (arriving in Manila on 10 December 1941). USS Luzon and Oahu left Shanghai shortly after midnight on 29 November 1941, with Rear Admiral Glassford and his staff on board Luzon. All of these river gunboats were flat-bottomed ships with no keels and they were never meant to sail on the open seas. One major wave could have tossed the little ships around like pieces of wood and few people back in Manila thought they would complete the journey alive. In fact, Admiral Thomas Hart, Commander-in-Chief of the US Asiatic Fleet back in Manila, was feeling so bad about the plight of the little gunboats that he sent the minesweeper USS Finch and the submarine rescue vessel USS Pigeon to escort the two gunboats just in case they went down in heavy seas.

The two gunboats headed south in the China Sea at a slow 10.5 knots. Unfortunately, as the ships steamed south through the Formosa Strait, they ran head-on into a typhoon. Heavy rain, huge waves, and horrific winds pounded the little ships. For four incredible days, Oahu and Luzon endured the storm. But in an amazing act of seamanship, Admiral Glassford and his officers somehow managed to keep the ships afloat. Glassford said in his report that, “For nearly 48 hours there was experienced the hardest beatings of our lives at sea. There was no sleep, no hot food, and one could scarcely even sit down without being tossed about by the relentless rapidity of the lunging jerks. The very worst of all the trip was after clearing Formosa, with a quartering sea. I recall just after dawn on the 4th of December, while clinging to the weather rail of the bridge deck, that our situation could not possibly be worse and wondering just how much longer we could stand it. Not the ships, which had proven their worth, but ourselves.”

But by dawn on 5 December 1941, there suddenly appeared a cloudless sky and a calm sea. The ships had been battered beyond belief and the men were exhausted, but they were still alive and had made it through the storm. A few hours later all of the ships arrived at Manila. After they arrived, Rear Admiral Glassford hauled down his flag on board Luzon and stated, “ComYangPat dissolved,” announcing the end of the famous Yangtze Patrol which had been formally established 22 years earlier and almost 90 years since the first American gunboat made its way up the Yangtze River. It was the end of an era in US Naval history.

After the war began on 7 December 1941, Luzon spent most of her time patrolling Manila Bay, trying to stop Japanese troops from infiltrating behind the lines by sea at night. Luzon completed several patrols of Manila Bay during the month of January 1942, but by 15 February there was a desperate shortage of fuel oil for the few remaining American warships in the area. What little oil remained was divided between the gunboats Luzon and Mindanao and was to be used only “in case of an emergency.”

Well, the emergency arrived on 6 April 1942. American intelligence reports discovered that the Japanese were going to make an amphibious landing behind the American lines on the Bataan peninsula. Luzon and Mindanao were given the task of stopping it. For nearly seven hours, the two gunboats searched Manila Bay east of Bataan but found nothing. Then, at roughly 0200, the two gunboats spotted 11 small Japanese landing craft steaming towards Bataan. Luzon and Mindanao opened fire with everything they had, which was a combined total of four 3-inch guns and roughly 30 machine guns of various calibers. Some cloud cover temporarily blocked the moonlight which, in turn, hid the landing craft, but Mindanao quickly fired star shells which illuminated the small Japanese ships. As the American gunboats kept up their fire, Japanese shore batteries joined in the battle, firing shells that landed close to both Luzon and Mindanao. The two American gunboats decided that it was time to leave the area, but they had managed to sink four of the Japanese landing craft and seriously damaged several others. The remaining Japanese landing craft also turned back for home, ending what some called “The Battle of Manila Bay.”

The fighting on Bataan ended on 9 April 1942. The remaining American and Filipino troops withdrew to the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay. Both Luzon and Mindanao were anchored at Corregidor but, with no oil, there was little left that they could do. The crews of both ships were ordered to leave their gunboats and assist in manning the huge artillery batteries that were on the island. Luzon’s crew was ordered to operate Battery Gillespie, which consisted of two huge 14-inch guns which were to be used against the inevitable Japanese amphibious landing.

The end was near for what was left of the old American China gunboats. On 2 May 1942, Japanese aircraft bombed Mindanao and the proud little warship sank. Seeing that all really was lost, Luzon was scuttled on 6 May 1942 to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Japanese Navy. In an amazing twist of fate, the Japanese discovered the wreck of the gunboat Luzon after the fall of Corregidor and managed to re-float the ship. Luzon then was overhauled by the Japanese Navy and re-named Karatsu. The former American gunboat served in the Japanese Navy for almost two years until she was sunk in the Philippines for the last time by the American submarine USS Narwhal (SS-167) on 3 March 1944. An amazing little warship, USS Luzon received one battle star for her service during World War II.

USS Mississippi (BB-41)

PLEASE NOTE: Due to a conflict in my schedule, the ship that was supposed to be posted on Tuesday, April 12, will be posted on Saturday, April 9. The next ship will be posted on Tuesday, April 19. Thanks.


Figure 1: USS Mississippi (BB-41) anchored off New York City, 1919. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Mississippi (BB-41) operating off Panama, circa 1923. Collection of Vice Admiral Dixwell Ketcham. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Mississippi (BB-41) operating at sea during the later 1930s. She has three SOC aircraft on her catapults. The original photograph is dated 20 March 1951, about a dozen years after it was actually taken. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Mississippi (BB-41) steaming through heavy weather in the North Atlantic, September 1941. Collection of Vice Admiral Robert C. Giffen. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: New Mexico class battleships at Pearl Harbor, 17 December 1943. Photographed from USS Natoma Bay (CVE-62), shortly after the conclusion of the Gilberts Campaign. The three battleships, in an anchorage protected by anti-torpedo nets, are (from left to right): USS Idaho (BB-42); USS New Mexico (BB-40); and USS Mississippi (BB-41). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Mississippi (BB-41) underway at three knots in Puget Sound, Washington, 13 July 1944. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 6D. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Mississippi (BB-41) covering the landings in Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 9 January 1945. This image is cropped from Photo #: 80-G-K-2516 to emphasize Mississippi's camouflage pattern, which is Camouflage Measure 32, Design 6D. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: Lingayen Invasion, January 1945. USS Mississippi (BB-41) bombarding Luzon, during the Lingayen operation, 8 January 1945. She is followed by USS West Virginia (BB-48) and HMAS Shropshire. Photographed from USS New Mexico (BB-40). Mississippi is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 6D. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: USS Mississippi (BB-41) in the Mississippi River, en route to take part in Navy Day celebrations at New Orleans, Louisiana, 16 October 1945. Note her anchors suspended below their normal stowed position at the bow. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: USS Mississippi (AG-128) photographed in 1947-48. She retains only her after 14" gun turret, but carries numerous smaller weapons and a special radar suite. Collection of Rear Admiral Frederic S. Withington, 1975. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 11: USS Mississippi (EAG-128) fires a "Terrier" surface-to-air missile during at-sea tests, circa 1953-55. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 12: May 1955 photograph showing USS Mississippi (AG-128) underway in New York harbor. Photographed & contributed by Bill Fuzak. Click on photograph for larger image.



The 32,000-ton USS Mississippi was a New Mexico class battleship that was built by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company at Newport News, Virginia, and was commissioned on 18 December 1917. The ship was approximately 624 feet long and 97 feet wide, had a top speed of 21 knots, and had a crew of 1,081 officers and men. Mississippi was armed with 12 14-inch guns, 22 5-inch guns, eight 3-inch guns, and two 21-inch torpedo tubes.

After her shakedown cruise off the coast of Virginia, Mississippi left on 22 March 1918 for additional training exercises near Cuba. One month later, the ship steamed north and patrolled the waters between Boston, Massachusetts, and New York until 31 January 1919, when she sailed to the Caribbean for winter naval maneuvers. On 19 July, Mississippi left the Atlantic seaboard and headed for the west coast. She eventually arrived at her new home at San Pedro, California, and remained based there for the next four years, heading only to the Caribbean during the winter months for training exercises.

On 12 June 1924, while Mississippi was on gunnery practice off San Pedro, a tragic explosion in the No. 2 main battery turret killed 48 members of the ship’s crew. On 15 April 1925, the ship sailed from San Francisco, California, to Hawaii to participate in naval exercises that were being held there. From there, Mississippi sailed to Australia for a “good will” tour. The ship returned to the west coast on 26 September and remained there for the next six years. As usual, Mississippi returned to the Caribbean during the winter months for various fleet maneuvers.

Mississippi entered the Norfolk Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia, on 30 March 1931 for a major modernization and overhaul. Once the overhaul was completed in September 1933, the ship steamed south and transited the Panama Canal on 24 October 1934. Once through the canal, Mississippi returned to San Pedro and remained based there for the next seven years.

Mississippi returned to Norfolk on 15 June 1941. The ship was overhauled and made ready for patrol duty in the North Atlantic. A few months later, Mississippi escorted a convoy to Hvalfjordur, Iceland, and basically remained there patrolling off the coast of Iceland until America entered the war on 7 December 1941. Two days after the start of the war, Mississippi left Iceland and was sent to the Pacific. She arrived at San Francisco on 22 January 1942 and spent most of the year participating in training exercises and escorting convoys along America’s west coast. In December 1942, Mississippi went to Hawaii and took part in more training exercises there. After that, the battleship escorted troop transports to the Fiji Islands and returned to Pearl Harbor on 2 March 1943. On 10 May, the ship sailed from Pearl Harbor and was part of the American amphibious invasion force that took back the Aleutian Islands from the Japanese. On 22 July, Mississippi bombarded the island of Kiska and several days later the Japanese withdrew. After that, the ship went back to San Francisco for an overhaul and returned to San Pedro on 19 October to join the invasion force that was going to attack the Gilbert Islands.

Mississippi reached the Gilbert Islands in November 1943. But on 20 November, another horrible turret explosion, almost identical to the first tragedy that occurred in 1924, killed 43 men on board the battleship. After being repaired, Mississippi participated in the amphibious assault on the Marshall Islands on 31 January 1944, shelling Kwajalein Island. The ship continued pounding Japanese-held islands in the area with her big guns and then went on to bombard Kavieng in New Ireland. Long overdue for an overhaul, Mississippi steamed to the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington and spent the summer of 1944 there being repaired.

Mississippi returned to the fighting in the Pacific and on 12 September 1944 supported the US landings on Peleliu in the Palau Islands. After a week of continuous shelling, Mississippi was sent to the island of Manus off New Guinea. She remained there until 12 October and then participated in the liberation of the Philippines. The ship began shelling the east coast of Leyte in the Philippines on 19 October and during the night of 24 October was part of Admiral Jesse Oldendorf’s task force that fought the famous Battle of Surigao Strait. This was the last time in history battleships from two opposing navies fired at each other, with the American task force fighting a Japanese task force under the command of Admiral Shoji Nishimura. The Japanese task force had two battleships (Yamashiro and Fusō), while the Americans had six battleships (West Virginia, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, California, and Pennsylvania). Ironically, all of the American battleships except Mississippi had been sunk or damaged in the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and had since been repaired. The Japanese warships were overwhelmed by the larger American task force and suffered a major defeat, with both Yamashiro and Fusō being sunk with no losses to the Americans. Like ghosts, the American battleships that were given up for dead after the attack on Pearl Harbor had returned and exacted a terrible vengeance on the Japanese fleet. After this battle, the Japanese made no further naval attacks on the Philippines, paving the way for the eventual American victory there.

Mississippi continued supporting operations in Leyte Gulf until 16 November 1944 and then steamed to the Admiralty Islands. The ship then entered San Pedro Bay, Leyte, on 28 December for the amphibious landings on Luzon in the Philippines. On 6 January 1945, Mississippi participated in the bombardment of Lingayan Gulf. During this operation, she was hit by a Japanese “kamikaze” or suicide aircraft, but the damage she received at her waterline was not critical and Mississippi was able to continue providing gunfire support for the operation until 10 February. After that, Mississippi returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Once the repairs were completed, the battleship was sent to Okinawa, arriving there on 6 May to take part in the massive amphibious assault on that island. Mississippi provided critical and highly accurate gunfire support during the invasion, even though she was hit by yet another kamikaze on 5 June. Although damaged, Mississippi remained on station and continued providing gunfire support until 16 June.

Once Japan surrendered, Mississippi steamed to Sagami Wan, Honshu, arriving there on 27 August as part of the American occupation force. She then anchored in Tokyo Bay and was present when Japan formally surrendered to the United States on board the USS Missouri on 2 September 1945. Mississippi left Japan soon after that and returned to the United States, arriving at Norfolk on 27 November. Mississippi was then converted to a gunnery training and weapons development ship in 1946 and re-designated AG-128. While acting in this role, she was given a wide variety of old and new guns and radars and served with the Operational Development Force in the Atlantic. On 28 January 1953, Mississippi acted as the test ship for and successfully fired the Navy’s first surface-to-air guided missile, the “Terrier.” Mississippi also assisted in the final evaluation of the “Petrel,” another radar-guided missile. But the old battleship was decommissioned at Norfolk on 17 September 1956 and was sold for scrapping to the Bethlehem Steel Company on 28 November of that same year, after almost 40 years of service to this country. USS Mississippi received eight battle stars for her service during World War II.

USS Peoria (PF-67)

Figure 1: USS Peoria (PF-67) off Charleston, South Carolina, following modification as a weather station ship, circa June 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Peoria (PF-67) off Charleston, South Carolina, following modification as a weather station ship, circa June 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Peoria (PF-67) off Charleston, South Carolina, following modification as a weather station ship, circa June 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Peoria (PF-67) off Charleston, South Carolina, following modification as a weather station ship, circa June 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Peoria (PF-67) off Charleston, South Carolina, following modification as a weather station ship, circa June 1945. Note the weather balloon hangar erected atop her after superstructure. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Peoria (PF-67) off Charleston, South Carolina, following modification as a weather station ship, circa June 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Peoria (PF-67) off Charleston, South Carolina, following modification as a weather station ship, circa June 1945. Note the men standing in and near the weather balloon hangar atop her after superstructure. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: Antonio Maceo (Cuban Frigate, 1947-1975) visiting New Orleans, Louisiana. Photographed at 1545 hrs. Eastern Standard Time, 9 May 1950. This ship was originally USS Peoria (PF-67). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: Antonio Maceo (Cuban Frigate, 1947-1975) visiting New Orleans, Louisiana. Photographed at 1545 hrs. Eastern Standard Time, 9 May 1950. This ship was originally USS Peoria (PF-67). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after a city in Illinois, the 1,246-ton USS Peoria was a Tacoma class frigate that was built by the Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The ship was accepted by the US Navy in July 1944 and briefly entered service to be ferried to another port for additional outfitting. Peoria was delivered to the Navy and placed in limited commission on 15 October 1944, probably for the purpose of allowing her to steam from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. On 2 January 1945, ceremonies were held at Houston, Texas, and Peoria was fully commissioned with a crew provided by the US Coast Guard. Peoria was approximately 303 feet long and 37 feet wide, had a top speed of 20 knots, and had a crew of 190 officers and men. The ship was armed with two 3-inch guns, four 40-mm guns, six 20-mm guns, eight depth-charge projectors, and two depth-charge tracks.

On 12 January 1945, Peoria conducted her shakedown cruise off the coast of Bermuda. She then sailed to Norfolk, Virginia, and on 4 March escorted a convoy to Gibraltar. Peoria then continued her voyage to Mers-el-Kebir, Algeria, arriving there on 19 March. On 27 March, the ship joined a convoy that was returning to the United States. After the convoy reached New York, Peoria went to Casco Bay, Maine, for antisubmarine exercises. Once they were completed, Peoria left Casco Bay on 7 May for New London, Connecticut, and arrived there the following day, 8 May 1945, the day the war ended in Europe. For the next two weeks, Peoria was used as a training ship at New London.

Peoria left New London on 21 May 1945 for Charleston, South Carolina. Once she arrived at Charleston, Peoria was converted into a weather ship for use in the Atlantic Ocean. On 21 June, Peoria began her duties as a weather ship and alternated patrols in the North Atlantic with visits to both Bermuda and Iceland.

After serving almost a year as a weather station ship, USS Peoria was decommissioned on 15 May 1946. She was struck from the Navy List on 19 June 1946 and was turned over to the Foreign Liquidation Commission of the State Department. On 16 June 1947, the former Peoria was transferred to the Cuban Navy. Renamed Antonio Maceo, the ship remained in the Cuban Navy until 1975, well after the communists took power on that island nation. Although Castro hates the United States, he certainly had no problems keeping one of our warships for roughly 16 years after he came to power and after receiving billions of dollars worth of military aid from the Soviet Union.