View source for USS Bisbee

{{short description|Tacoma-class patrol frigate}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= USS Bisbee (PF-46) 120804604.jpg
|Ship caption= USS ''Bisbee'' (PF-46) off [[Coco Solo]], [[Panama Canal Zone]], on 24 April 1944
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1951}}
|Ship name= ''Bisbee''
|Ship namesake=City of [[Bisbee, Arizona|Bisbee]], Arizona
|Ship reclassified=PF-46, 15 April 1943
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=yes
|Ship builder=[[Consolidated Steel Corporation]], [[Wilmington, Los Angeles|Wilmington]], [[California]]
|Ship yard number=531
|Ship laid down=7 August 1943
|Ship launched=7 September 1943
|Ship sponsor= Mrs. Richard Murphy
|Ship commissioned=15 February 1944
|Ship decommissioned=26 August 1945
|Ship honors=2 [[battle star]]s, [[World War II]]
|Ship fate=Transferred to the [[Soviet Navy]] 26 August 1945<ref name="transfer date">The [https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/bisbee-i.html ''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships'' ''Bisbee''] article states that ''Bisbee'' was transferred on 27 August 1945, and [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/patrol/pf46.htm hazegray.org ''Bisbee''] repeats this, while [http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/08046.htm NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Bisbee (PF 46) ex-PG-154]{{'}}s assertion that the transfer was on 17 August 1945 clearly is a typographical error. However, more recent research in Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: [[Naval Historical Center]], 1997, {{ISBN|0-945274-35-1}}, pp. 34-35, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the [[Cold War]], reports that the transfer date was 26 August 1945. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, ''Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels'' Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., ''Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik'' ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994. According to Russell, Project Hula ships were decommissioned by the U.S. Navy simultaneously with their transfer to the Soviet Navy &ndash; see photo captions on p. 24 regarding the transfers of various [[large infantry landing craft]] (LCI(L)s) and information on p. 27 about the transfer of {{USS|Coronado|PF-38}}, which Russell says typified the transfer process &ndash; indicating that ''Bisbee''{{'}}s U.S. Navy decommissioning, transfer, and Soviet Navy commissioning all occurred simultaneously on 26 August 1945.</ref>
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=yes
|Ship acquired=Returned by Soviet Navy, 1 November 1949
|Ship recommissioned=18 October 1950
|Ship decommissioned=20 October 1951
|Ship honors= 3 battle stars, [[Korean War]]
|Ship struck=
|Ship fate=Transferred to [[Colombian National Armada]], 13 February 1952
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header= title
|Ship country=Soviet Union
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Soviet Union|naval}}
|Ship name= ''EK-17''
|Ship acquired=26 August 1945<ref name="transfer date"/>
|Ship commissioned=26 August 1945<ref name="transfer date"/>
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship struck=
|Ship fate=Returned to United States, 1 November 1949
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header= title
|Ship country=Colombia
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Colombia|naval}}
|Ship name= ''Capitán Tono''
|Ship acquired= 13 February 1952
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship struck=
|Ship fate=Scrapped, 1963
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Ship class= {{sclass|Tacoma|frigate|1}}
|Ship displacement=*{{convert|1430|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} light
*{{convert|2415|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} full
|Ship length= {{convert|303|ft|11|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam= {{convert|37|ft|6|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draft= {{convert|13|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth=
|Ship propulsion=*2 × {{convert|5500|shp|0|abbr=on}} turbines
*3 boilers
*2 shafts
|Ship speed= {{convert|20|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=190
|Ship armament=*3 × [[3"/50 caliber gun|3"/50 dual purpose]] guns (3x1)
*4 x [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|40&nbsp;mm gun]]s (2×2)
*9 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon|20&nbsp;mm gun]]s (9×1)
*1 × [[Hedgehog (weapon)|Hedgehog]] [[anti-submarine mortar]]
*8 × [[Y-gun]] depth charge projectors
*2 × Depth charge tracks
|Ship armor=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Bisbee'' (PF-46)''' was a [[United States Navy]] {{sclass|Tacoma|frigate}} in commission from 1944 to 1945 and from 1950 to 1951. She also served in the [[Soviet Navy]] as '''''EK-17''''' and in the [[Colombian National Armada]] as '''ARC ''Capitán Tono'''''.

==Construction and commissioning==
Originally classified as a patrol gunboat, '''PG-154''', ''Bisbee'' was reclassified as a [[patrol frigate]], PF-46, on 15 April 1943. She was [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 7 September 1943, at the [[Consolidated Steel Corporation]] [[shipyard]] in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], [[California]], sponsored by Mrs. Richard Murphy, and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 15 February 1944.

==Service history==

===U.S. Navy, World War II, 1944&ndash;1945===
Assigned to the [[United States Pacific Fleet]] and manned by the [[United States Coast Guard]], ''Bisbee'' joined the [[United States Seventh Fleet]] at [[Nouméa]], [[New Caledonia]], on 27 June 1944.  She took part in the [[Battle of Biak|landings]] on [[Biak Island]] of 12–31 August 1944, and then patrolled off the [[New Guinea]] coast until October 1944.  During the [[Battle of Leyte|invasion]] of [[Leyte Island|Leyte]] in the [[Philippine Islands]], she served as a patrol and harbor control vessel until detached for escort duty on 22 November 1944.  ''Bisbee'' arrived at [[Pearl Harbor]], [[Territory of Hawaii]], on 15 December 1944.

After undergoing repairs, ''Bisbee'' departed Pearl Harbor on 6 January 1945 for [[Dutch Harbor, Alaska|Dutch Harbor]], [[Territory of Alaska]], arriving there on 13 January 1945.  From then until July 1945, she escorted [[merchant ship]]s and [[United States Army]] [[Transport (ship)|transports]] between Dutch Harbor, [[Adak Island|Adak]], [[Amchitka]], and [[Attu Island|Attu]], and acted as [[guard ship]] for [[Fleet Air Wing 4]] in the [[North Pacific Ocean]].

Stage and film actor Buddy Ebsen served as the Executive Officer aboard Bisbee during this deployment to the Pacific War Zone.

Selected for transfer to the [[Soviet Navy]] in [[Project Hula]] &ndash; a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at [[Cold Bay, Alaska|Cold Bay]], Alaska, in anticipation of the [[Soviet Union]] joining the [[Pacific War|war against Japan]] &ndash; ''Bisbee'', with [[Escort Division 43]], departed Adak on 6 July 1945 bound for [[Seattle]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]], arriving there on 12 July 1945.  After undergoing repairs and conversion in preparation for her transfer, ''Bisbee'' steamed to Cold Bay, where she arrived on 13 August 1945. She soon began training her new Soviet crew.<ref name="Russell p. 39">Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: [[Naval Historical Center]], 1997, {{ISBN|0-945274-35-1}}, p. 39.</ref>

===Soviet Navy, 1945–1949===

Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, ''Bisbee'' was [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] on 26 August 1945 at Cold Bay and transferred to the Soviet Union under [[Lend-Lease]] immediately<ref name="transfer date"/> along with her [[sister ship]]s {{USS|Gallup|PF-47}}, {{USS|Rockford|PF-48}}, {{USS|Muskogee|PF-49}}, {{USS|Carson City|PF-50}}, and {{USS|Burlington|PF-51}}. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,<ref name="transfer date"/> ''Bisbee'' was designated as a ''storozhevoi korabl'' ("escort ship") and renamed '''''EK-17''''' in Soviet service. She soon departed Cold Bay bound for [[Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky]] in the Soviet Union, where she served as a patrol vessel in the [[Soviet Far East]].<ref name="Russell p. 39"/>

In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II. On 8 May 1947, [[United States Secretary of the Navy]] [[James V. Forrestal]] informed the [[United States Department of State]] that the [[United States Department of the Navy]] wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned, ''EK-17'' among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but on 1 November 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned ''EK-17'' to the U.S. Navy at [[United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka|Yokosuka]], [[Japan]].<ref>Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: [[Naval Historical Center]], 1997, {{ISBN|0-945274-35-1}}, pp. 37-38, 39.</ref>

===U.S. Navy, Korean War, 1950&ndash;1951===
Reverting to her original name, ''Bisbee'' lay idle in the [[Pacific Reserve Fleet]] at Yokosuka until being recommissioned on 18 October 1950 for service in the [[Korean War]]. She got underway for [[Korea]] on 23 November 1950, and served on [[patrol]], escort, and bombardment duty off Korea &ndash; also making occasional voyages to the Philippine Islands, [[Hong Kong]], and the [[Pescadores]] &ndash; until decommissioned on 20 October 1951.

===Colombian Navy, 1952&ndash;1963===
After repairs at Yokosuka, the ship was transferred to [[Colombia]] on 13 February 1952 under the [[Mutual Defense Assistance Program]], serving in the [[Colombian Navy]] as '''ARC ''Capitán Tono'''''. She relieved her [[sister ship]] ARC ''Almirante Padilla'', ex-{{USS|Groton|PF-29}}, and served on patrol off the east coast of [[Korea]]. Exchanges of fire with [[Coastal artillery|shore batteries]] were a frequent occurrence, and her crew suffered some casualties. On 13 January 1953, ''Capitán Tono'' ended her [[tour of duty]] and was replaced by another of her sister ships, ARC ''Almirante Brión'', ex-USS ''Burlington'' (PF-51).<ref>{{cite web | first = Les | last = Peate | title = From Bogota to Old Baldy: Colombia's contribution | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6972/is_7_11/ai_n28209339/ | work = [[Esprit de Corps (magazine)|Esprit de Corps]] | publisher = [[Scott Taylor (journalist)|Scott Taylor]] | location = Ottawa |date=June 2004 | access-date =6 June 2009}}</ref>

The ship remained in Colombian service after the Korean War and was scrapped in 1963.

==Awards==
The U.S. Navy awarded ''Bisbee'' two [[battle star]]s for her World War II service and three for her Korean War service.

==References==
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b6/bisbee-i.htm}}
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{navsource|12/08046|USS Bisbee (PF-46)}}
*[http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/PF46Bisbee.asp USS ''Bisbee'' (PF-46), United States Coast Guard site]

{{Tacoma class patrol frigate|others}}
{{Project Hula ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bisbee (Pf-46)}}
[[Category:Tacoma-class frigates]]
[[Category:Ships built in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:1943 ships]]
[[Category:World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States]]
[[Category:Tacoma-class frigates of the Soviet Navy]]
[[Category:World War II frigates of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Cold War frigates of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Cold War frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States]]
[[Category:Korean War frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States]]
[[Category:Tacoma-class frigates of the Colombian Navy]]
[[Category:Korean War frigates of Colombia]]
[[Category:Ships transferred under Project Hula]]