USS Charlotte (PF-60)

History
Name:	Charlotte
Builder:	Globe Shipbuilding Company, Superior, Wisconsin
Laid down:	5 August 1943
Launched:	30 October 1943
Commissioned:	9 October 1944
Decommissioned:	16 April 1946
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 13 May 1947
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tacoma-class frigate
Displacement:	1,430 long tons (1,453 t) light; 2,415 long tons (2,454 t) full;
Length:	303 ft 11 in (92.63 m)
Beam:	37 ft 6 in (11.43 m)
Draft:	13 ft 8 in (4.17 m)
Propulsion:	2 × 5,500 shp (4,101 kW) turbines; 3 boilers; 2 shafts;
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	190
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 Charlotte (PF-60), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named Charlotte.

Construction

The third Charlotte (PF-60) was launched on 30 October 1943, by Globe Shipbuilding Company, in Superior, Wisconsin, under a Maritime Commission contract, sponsored by Mrs. R. Billings; placed in service on 19 July 1944; commissioned on 9 October 1944, with Commander R. D. Dean, USCG, in command; and reported to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

Service history

Charlotte cleared Boston, Massachusetts, on 8 January 1945 to take up what was to be her primary mission through her naval service, sailing to NS Argentia, Newfoundland, where she took up weather station duty. Flashing news of weather conditions from her post at sea, she helped make it possible for specialists to prepare weather predictions. This information not only affected flight operations and ship movements in the western Atlantic where she patrolled, but since weather in general moves to the eastward, aided in predicting European conditions.

Between 21 and 26 March 1945, Charlotte aided Surprise (PG-63) and Tenacity (PG-71), rendezvousing at sea with the ice-damaged gunboats and towing them to Argentia. Later, she towed Tenacity to Boston, but by 5 April was back on her weather station. Similar duty in the North Atlantic, during which she kept alert for the possibility of rescuing downed aviators, continued until 17 January 1946, when she sailed from Boston for a weather station off Bermuda.

Charlotte arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 15 March 1946, and was decommissioned there on 16 April 1946. She was sold for scrapping on 13 May, but instead was converted to a coastal passenger ship for Brazil. The ship was scrapped in 1965.

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References

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

External links

Photo gallery of USS Charlotte at NavSource Naval History
hazegray.org: USS Charlotte

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