Name USS Pocatello Commissioned 18 February 1944 Fate Sold for scrap, 1947 Construction started 17 August 1943 Length 93 m | Laid down 17 August 1943 Decommissioned 2 May 1946 Class and type Tacoma-class frigate Launched 17 October 1943 Builder Kaiser Shipyards | |
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USS Pocatello (PF-9), a Tacoma-class frigate, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Pocatello, Idaho.
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Pocatello (PF–9), a patrol frigate, originally classified as gunboat with the designation PG-117, was laid down on 17 August 1943 at Kaiser Yard No. 4, in Richmond, California; launched on 17 October 1943, sponsored by Miss Thelma Dixey, a great-granddaughter of Chief Pocatello; manned by a Coast Guard crew; and commissioned at Richmond on 18 February 1944, with Lieutenant Commander S. G. Guill, USCG, in command.
Service history
After fitting out at General Engineering and Drydock Company, in Alameda, California, and shakedown out of San Diego, California, through 28 April, Pocatello was assigned to Commander, Western Sea Frontier, and directed to commence weather station operations out of Seattle, Washington. Departing San Francisco on 17 May, she arrived at Seattle on 22 June. One month later she commenced her first patrol on Weather Station Able. The actor Buddy Ebsen served aboard the Pocatello. He applied for a commission in the Navy but was turned down; even though he was teaching seamanship to Naval Reserve OCS candidate at the time. He then applied for and received a commission as a Lieutenant (jg) in the Coast Guard. He was assigned to the Pocatello and served on her until 1946 when he was discharged from the Coast Guard after the war. He attained the rank of Lieutenant.
Pocatello's weather station was approximately 1,500 miles (2,400 km) west of Seattle. Patrols consisted of thirty days at sea followed by ten days in port at Seattle. Pocatello alternated on station with the Coast Guard cutter Haida (WPG-45), and had completed a dozen patrols by the war's end. Pocatello was then laid up on the west coast. Scheduled for disposal, she shifted to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving there on 6 April 1946 and decommissioning there on 2 May. Pocatello was subsequently sold at Charleston to J. C. Berkwit and Company of New York City.
Notable Crewmembers
Actor Buddy Ebsen was the executive officer (XO) on the ship during World War II.