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NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive

Key West (PF 17)



Call sign:
Nan - Peter - Fox - George

ex-PG-125

Tacoma Class Patrol Frigate:

  • (MC Type T. S2-S2-AQ1) Originally designated as Patrol Gunboat, PG-125
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Frigate, PF-17, 15 April 1943
  • Laid down 23 June 1943 under a Maritime Commission Contract by the American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio
  • Launched 29 December 1943
  • Commissioned USS Key West (PF-17), 7 November 1944 at Houston, TX
  • Decommissioned 14 June 1946 at Bremerton, WA
  • Sold for scrap 18 April 1947 to Cascade Enterprises of Oakland, CA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists sale date as May 1947.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,430 t.
  • Length 303' 11" (oa)
  • Beam 37' 6"
  • Draft 13' 8"
  • Speed 20.3 kts.
  • Complement 190
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts, two twin 40mm gun mounts, nine 20mm guns, one Hedgehog depth charge projector, eight Y-gun depth charge projectors, and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion: Two 3-drum express boilers, two 5,500ihp vertical triple expansion steam turbines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Key West (PF 17)
    Key West 70k Prior to launching Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Key West 107k 29 December 1943
    Launching at Lorain, OH
    U.S. Navy Photo    		 Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
    Key West 242k 29 December 1943
    Afloat after launching, at the American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 52052    		 Mike Green
    USS Key West (PF 17)
    Key West 230k 11 March 1945
    Boston Harbor, Massachusetts
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 52051    		 Mike Green
    Key West 143k c. 1945/1946
    San Francisco, California
    Courtesy of James Russell
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 78571
    Key West 427k San Francisco Bay, California, circa 1945-1946
    Photo from the Wright Langley Collection
    Courtesy of Florida Keys Public Libraries    		 Robert Hurst

    Photos gift of Maurice Bacott
    Courtesy of Florida Keys Public Libraries

    Contributed by Robert Hurst

    (If you know the identity of any of these crew members, please send an email with their names)

    Click on thumbnail for full size photo


    1. Crew manning the highline
    c. 1945

    2. MM2/c Jones and Coxswain Rayn, USCG with a stretcher case
    c. 1945

    3. Ships Engineering Officer Pangle, USCG (on right). The Walter S. Brown (DE 258) is anchored astern
    c. 1945

    4. Inspection at sea
    c. 1945

    5. Coxswain Speier, Coxswain Rolland and S1/c Lambert, USCG in the Azores
    c. 1945

    6. Coxswain Rayn, S1/c Sigal and F1/c La Forest, USCG at El Kibar, Algiers
    c. 1945

    7. Beyer, YN1/c, USCG
    c. 1945

    8. Doctor coming on board via highline

    9. Doctor coming on board via highline

    10. Manning the line
    c. 1945

    11. GM2/c Welsh, USCG
    c. 1945

    12. Kallen, F1/c, USCG
    c. 1945

    13. SOM3/c Rayns, USCG, "Our Preacher"
    c. 1944

    14. Church services
    c. December 1944

    14a. WT1/c Nick Adams. Center from preceding page
    Contributed by his son Douglas D. Adams
    Photo added 21 February 2021
    c. 1944

    14b. WT1/c Nick Adams' columbarium niche cover at Arlington National Cemetery
    Contributed by his son Douglas D. Adams
    Photo added 21 February 2021

    15. Chief Boatswain Scarbo and BM2/c Black, USCG
    c. 1945

    16. Commander Roberts, Lt. Booth and Lt(jg) Malloy
    c. December 1945

    17. MM2/c Sosmoski, S1/c Zybert F1/c Tardiff and front S2/c Galbaith
    c. 1945

    18. Church services
    Christmas 1945
    View the Key West (PF-17)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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