Machias II (PF‑53)
1944-1961
The second U.S. Navy ship to be named for the town in eastern Maine.
II
(PF‑53: displacement 1,430; length 303'11"; beam 37'6"; draft 13'8"; speed 20.3 knots; complement 190; armament 3 3-inch, 4 40-millimeter, 4 20-millimeter, 1 depth charge projector (Hedgehog), 8 depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge tracks; class Tacoma; type S2‑S2‑AQ1)
The second Machias (PF-53)—originally authorized as a gunboat, PG‑161, but reclassified as a frigate, PF‑53, on 15 April 1943—was laid down on 8 May 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract (M.C. Hull 1478) at Milwaukee, Wisc., by Froeming Bros.; launched on 22 August 1943; sponsored by Mrs. W. Richard Bernays; and commissioned on 29 March 1944, Cmdr. Robert T. Alexander, USCG, in command.
Ready for sea duty by 17 July 1944, Machias patrolled off the Middle Atlantic States and escorted a convoy to Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, before joining Escort Division 33 at Norfolk, Va., on 13 August. With that division, she steamed to New York to become a unit of Task Group (TG) 70.7, then assembling to depart for the Pacific. The group sailed from New York on 16 August and by the 28th had transited the Panama Canal en route to Bora Bora. On 25 September, Machias left the convoy to escort HMS Arquebus and HMS Battleaxe to the New Hebrides and the Solomons to disembark troops. The frigate rejoined her escort division at Morotai on 23 October and commenced antisubmarine patrols in the waters surrounding the Moluccas.
On 15 November 1944, following boiler repairs at Mios Woendi, Machias steamed with her division for the Philippines. She arrived on the 18th and after further repairs took up antisubmarine patrols off Mindanao, primarily in Surigao Strait. She continued in that role until 4 December, when she returned to convoy escort duty. For the next three months she escorted ships and carried military people to and from New Guinea, the Philippines, the Marshalls and the Carolines.
Machias departed Eniwetok for Seattle, Wash., on 19 March 1945 for an overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Wash.. Upon completion of her overhaul in mid‑June, the frigate proceeded to Cold Bay, Alaska, where she was transferred to the Soviet Navy on 13 July, being renamed EK-4. She participated in operations in the Kurils (18 August—1 September 1945).
Returned to U.S. Navy custody in October 1949 at Yokosuka, Japan, Machias was laid-up there, and remained idle until transferred to the Japanese Maritime Self‑Defense Force in January 1953 and recommissioned as Nara (PF‑2). She served as such until reclassified PF‑282 on 1 September 1957.
Stricken from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1961, she was transferred to Japan permanently on 28 August 1962. She continued her service in the Japanese Defense Forces until she was decommissioned on 31 March 1966. On that date, she was reclassified as YTE‑3 and became a nonoperational dockside trainer in which duty until decommissioned and disposed-of for scrap in 1969.
Machias received two battle stars for her World War II service.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
28 July 2022
