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.
