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NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive

HMS Papua (K 588)
ex-Howett
ex-PF-84



PF-84 call sign:
Nan - Zebra - Yoke - Easy

ex-PG-192


PF-84 served the Navies of Great Britain and Egypt.
Tacoma Class Patrol Frigate/British Colony Class Frigate:

  • (MC Type T. S2-S2-AQ1) Originally authorized as Patrol Gunboat, PG-192
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Frigate, PF-84, 15 April 1943
  • Laid down under a Maritime Commission contract at Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc., Providence, RI
  • Assigned to the Royal Navy under the Lend-Lease Program and named Howett
  • Launched 10 October 1943
  • Transferred to the Royal Navy and commissioned HMS Papua (K 588), 25 July 1944
  • Returned to U.S. custody 15 April 1946
  • Sold for scrap in April 1947 to Boston Metals of Baltimore, MD
  • Scrapping canceled and resold in 1950 to Khedivial Mail Lines SAE of Alexandria, Egypt and renamed SS Malrouk
  • Acquired by Egyptian government later in 1953, rearmed and commissioned as Misr
  • Sank after a collision in the Gulf of Suez 17 May 1953.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,246 t.
  • Length 304'
  • Beam 37' 6"
  • Draft 14'
  • Speed 20 kts.
  • Complement 190
  • Armament: Three 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: Three boilers, two 5,500 iHP turbines, two shafts boilers.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PF-84
    PF-83 & PF-84 462k 25 February 1944
    PF-83 and PF-84 under construction
    Photo from Walsh-Kaiser Company Inc. Report No.11, February 29, 1944, Progress of Construction of 21 S2-S2-AQ1 Frigates    		 Paul Silverstone
    HMS Papua (K 588)
    PF-84 132k
    Namesake:

    The Territory of Papua comprised the southeastern quarter of the island of New Guinea from 1883 to 1975. In 1883, the Government of Queensland annexed this territory for the British Empire. The United Kingdom Government refused to ratify the annexation but in 1884 a Protectorate was proclaimed over the territory, then called "British New Guinea". There is a certain ambiguity about the exact date on which the entire territory was annexed by the British. The Papua Act 1905 recites that this happened "on or about" 4 September 1888. On 18 March 1902, the Territory was placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. Resolutions of acceptance were passed by the Commonwealth Parliament, who accepted the territory under the name of Papua

    		 Tommy Trampp
    PF-84 13k
    		Naval Historical Society of Australia website
    Photo added 23 October 2020
    View the PF-84
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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