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NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive

USCGC Groton (PF 29)
ex-USS Groton (PF 29)



Call sign:
Nan - Zebra - Victor - Oboe

ex-PG-137


Groton served both the U. S. Navy and Coast Guard


Groton served the Navies of the United States and the Colombia
Tacoma Class Patrol Frigate:

  • (MC Type T. S2-S2-AQ1). Originally authorized as Patrol Gunboat, PG-137
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Frigate, PF-29, 15 April 1943
  • Laid down 15 July 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract by Walter Butler Shipbuilding Co., Superior, Wisconsin
  • Launched 14 September 1943
  • Commissioned USS Groton (PF-29), 5 September 1944
  • Decommissioned 13 March 1946 at Boston, MA, transferred to the Coast Guard and recommissioned the same day as USCGC Groton (PF 29)
  • Decommissioned 29 September 1946 at New Orleans, LA, returned to Navy custody and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet Lake Charles, LA
  • Transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission 26 March 1947 for disposal, sold to Colombia and renamed ARC Almirante Padilla (F 11)
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,430 t.
  • Length 303' 11" (oa)
  • Bean 37' 6"
  • Draft 13' 8"
  • Speed 20.3 kts.
  • Complement 214
  • 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 Valley Iron Works vertical triple expansion steam engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    USS Groton (PF 29)
    Groton 142k National Archives photo 19-N-70952 Tommy Trampp
    Groton 119k c. October 1944
    Underway off Charleston, South Carolina
    National Archives photo 80-G-181225    		 Robert Hurst
    Groton 54k c. 1 July - 21 October 1945
    Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada
    Photo by Don F. Roban, S1/c, USCG    		 Mark Grobbel, BM1/c, USCG
    via Mike Grobbel
    ARC Almirante Padilla (F 11)
    Groton 52k c. 1948 Robert Hurst
    Tacoma 330k 16 January 1952
    Han Estuary, South Korea
    Along side the repair ship USS Jason (ARH-1). The Jason was the flagship of Service Squadron Three which supplied mobile logistic support for United Nations’ naval units. The ships fantails visible are: (L-R) the Australian Bay-class frigate HMAS Murchison (F 442); the Colombian Tacoma-class frigate Almirante Padilla (F 11), ex-Groton; the Tacoma-class frigate USS Gloucester (PF 22), and the South Korean Tacoma-class frigate Taedong (PF-63), ex-USS Tacoma (PF 3)
    U.S. Navy photo
    Groton 61k c. 1953
    Colombian Navy photo
    Groton 64k Colombian Navy photo from the 1961/1962 edition of "Jane's Fighting Ships"
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR John Nelson Zeller, USCG - USCGA Class of 1929
    Retired as Commander    		5 September 1944 - September 1944
    02LT Philip L. Chase, USCGRSeptember 1944
    03LCDR John Lenci, USCG - Awarded the Bronze Star24 June 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Joe Radigan
    View the Groton (PF-29)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back to the Main Photo Index Back to the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index Back to the Patrol Frigate (PF) Photo Index
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    This page created by Gary P. Priolo and maintained by Tom Bateman
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