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Alexandria II (PF-18)

1945-1946


Alexandria (PF-18)

Alexandria (PF-18) off Washington, DC, in November 1945. Photograph from the U.S. Coast Guard collection in the U.S. National Archives. Catalog#: 26-G-4828.


While the Civil War steamer was named for the city in the state of Louisiana; the World War II frigate was named for Alexandria, Virginia. 

II

(PF-18: displacement 1,430; length 303'11"; beam 37'6"; draft 13'8"; speed 20.3 knots (trial); complement 190; armament 3 3-inch, 4 20-millimeter, 8 depth charge projectors, 1 depth charge projector (Hedgehog), 2 depth charge tracks; classTacoma; type S2-S2-AQ1)

The second Alexandria (PF-18) was laid down under a Maritime Commission contract (M.C. Hull 1848) on 23 June 1943 at Lorain, Ohio, by the American Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 15 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. J. Leslie Hall; and towed down the Mississippi River to New Orleans where she was fitted out and then commissioned on 11 March 1945, Lt. Cmdr. C. G. Houtsma, USCG, in command.

Alexandria conducted shakedown and antisubmarine training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in late March 1945 and early April. She concluded shakedown on 19 April and put into the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., on the 22nd to begin post-shakedown availability. Her repairs were finished on 4nMay; and, three days later, the war in Europe ended. The latter event obviated the primary mission for which she had been constructed, prosecution of the Battle of the Atlantic against German U-boats. Thus, when she reported for duty with the Commander, Destroyers, Atlantic Fleet, on 15 May, the patrol frigate received an alternative assignment as a weather ship. After receiving modifications at the Charleston [S.C.] Navy Yard, she began weather patrol duty off the Newfoundland coast late in June 1945.

That duty, broken only by a visit to Alexandria, Va., in late October 1945 and early November, lasted until February 1946 when the ship was declared surplus to the needs of the Navy. She arrived at the Boston [Mass.] Naval Shipyard on 12 February and remained there just under one month. On 12 March, Alexandria arrived in Norfolk, Va., where she was decommissioned on 10 April 1946. Her name was stricken from the Navy List on 21 May 1946. On 18 April 1947, the former patrol vessel was sold to the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Chester, Pa., for scrapping.

Raymond A. Mann

Updated, Robert J. Cressman

8 July 2022

Published: Fri Jul 08 14:54:38 EDT 2022