Patrol Frigates loaned to USSR, Lend Lease -1945 -Returned 1949

It all came about as a result of the Yalta Conference of February 1945. The United States gained Soviet promise of entry into the Pacific war once Germany was defeated by pledging military goods and support of Russian acquisition of the Japanese Kurile Islands that enclose the Sea of Okhotsk. Thus Navy Detachment 3294 known as Project Hula was born. Rapid preparation of Cold Bay near the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula was under way in March as the secret exchange base, Captain William Maxwell USN in command and Commander John Hutson USCG, executive officer. As early as January 1945, Admiral King had informed Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher of his intention to transfer up to 250 navy vessels to the USSR during the period April to December 1945. Cold Bay was chosen over Dutch Harbor and Kodiak because of remoteness and no nearby civilian population, a suitable Navy auxiliary air facility, a large anchorage in Kimzaroff Lagoon and protected waters for steaming and firing practice. And lastly, as one visitor put it, Cold Bay was safe from prying eyes since no one remembers having seen the sun break through the low overcast.The Navy Construction Battallion was called upon to rehabilitate Fort Randall barracks and outbuildings. In no time and in 'can do'fashion the SeaBees set up quonset huts, built a radio station, several movie theaters and
scooped a softball field dubbed Yankee Stadium. The Russians agreed to transport sailors to Cold Bay aboard freighters returning to West Coast ports from Vladivostok
for Lend Lease goods, each ship scheduled to carry 600 men. So rapidly did events roll along, that by June 1945 in excess of 4500 Russians sailors were on site in Cold Bay. By the end of Project Hula 15,000 Russian naval personal passed through Cold Bay, trained to operate a variety of transfer vessels. From May to September 1945, 149 vessels were transferred to the USSR -- 28 patrol frigates and numerous minesweepers, LCI(L)s, subchasers and four floating workshops. The LCL(L)s were the first to haul down the flag. The frigates wound up Project Hula in September. The Tacoma-class frigates represented the most valuable vessels transfered. Once the American flag was lowered and the Soviet ensign raised, the new Russian units departed in groups for Petropovlovsk on Kamchatka Peninsula for assignment to the Soviet Far East Fleet. Project Hula ended on 5 September 1945, when Captain Maxwell received the following dispatch: ABSOLUTE STOP ON LEND LEASE DELIVERY ARMS AMMUNITION AND SHIPS HAS BEEN DIRECTED INCIDENT TO SURRENDER OF JAPAN X UPON RECEIPT OF THIS DESPATCH CEASE FURTHER DELIVERY OF VESSELS UNDER HULA AGREEMENT...

The twenty-eight frigates loaned to the USSR in 1945 and returned to the US Navy at
Yokosuka, Japan in the fall of 1949 (minus BELFAST PF-35, damaged beyond repair):

CHARLOTTESVILLE PF-25 -- LONG BEACH PF-34
BELFAST PF-35 -- GLENDALE PF-36
SAN PEDRO PF-37 -- CORONADO PF-38
OGDEN PF-39 -- ALLENTOWN PF-52
MACHIAS PF-53 -- SANDUSKY PF-54
TACOMA PF-3 -- SAUSALITO PF-4
HOQUIAM PF-5 -- PASCO PF-6
ALBUQUERQUE PF-7 -- EVERETT PF-8
BISBEE PF-45 -- GALLUP PF-47
ROCKFORD PF-48 -- MUSKOGEE PF-49
CARSON CITY PF-50 -- BURLINGTON PF-51
BAYONNE PF-21 -- POUGHKEEPSIE PF-26
GLOUCESTER PF-22 -- NEWPORT PF-27
BATH PF-55 -- EVANSVILLE PF-70