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NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive

St. Helena (PF 86)
ex-HMS St. Helena (K-590)
ex-Pasley
ex-PF-86
ex-PG-194



St. Helena served only in the Royal Navy
Tacoma Class Patrol Frigate/British Colony Class Frigate:

  • (MC Type T. S2-S2-AQ1) Originally authorized as Patrol Gunboat, PG-194
  • Reclassified as a Patrol Frigate, Pasley (PF 86), 15 April 1943
  • Assigned to the Royal Navy under the Lend-Lease Program 10 June 1943 and named Pasley
  • Laid down 22 September 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1668) at Welsh-Kaiser Co., Inc., Providence, RI
  • Launched 20 October 1943
  • Transferred to the Royal Navy and commissioned HMS St. Helena (K-590), 19 February 1944
  • Returned to U.S. custody 8 April 1946 at Norfolk, VA and temporarily placed on the list of vessels on hand as St. Helena (PF 86)
  • Struck from the Naval Register 19 June 1946
  • Transferred to the Maritime Commission 1 April 1947 for disposal
  • Sold for scrap 1 July 1947 to Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. of Chester, PA
    Naval Vessel Register of 1 January 1949 lists sales date as April 1947
  • Scrapped 28 October 1947.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,246 t.
  • Length 304'
  • Beam 37' 6"
  • Draft 14'
  • Speed 20 kts.
  • Complement 120
  • Armament: Three 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts, four 40mm gun mounts, four 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.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full site image    		 Size Image Description Source
    PF-86 32k
    Namesake:

    Saint Helena is a remote volcanic tropical island in the South Atlantic Ocean, belonging to the United Kingdom. The island lies some 1,950 kilometers (1,210 mi) west of the coast of southwestern Africa, and 4,000 kilometers (2,500 mi) east of Rio de Janeiro on the South American coast. It is one of three British Overseas Territory grouped as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It was named after Saint Helena of Constantinople. It is one of the most isolated islands in the world and was uninhabited when discovered by the Portuguese in 1502. It was an important stopover for ships sailing to Europe from Asia and Southern Africa for centuries.

    The island was the place of imprisonment of Napoleon by the British from 1815 to his death in 1821. Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo was imprisoned there (for leading a Zulu army against British rule), along with more than 5,000 Boers taken prisoner during the Second Boer War, including Piet Cronjé.

    Saint Helena is the United Kingdom's second-oldest overseas territory after Bermuda

    		 Tommy Trampp
    View the St. Helena (PF-86)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
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