Manned by a United States Coast Guard crew, Carson City departed Los Angeles, California, on 19 July 1944, for Espiritu Santo and Milne Bay, New Guinea, where on 13 August 1944, she reported for patrol and escort duty in the New Guinea area with the United States Seventh Fleet. She took part in the unopposed landings on Morotai on 16 September 1944, then took part in guarding ships, men, and supplies being assembled for the landings on Leyte in the Philippine Islands. She herself sailed for Leyte Gulf from Humboldt Bay, New Guinea, on 16 October 1944, supporting the first wave of reinforcements for the Northern Attack Force at Leyte. On 22 October 1944, she accompanied her charges into the landing area, and next day began a voyage escorting the empty ships back to Humboldt Bay.
After reaching Humboldt Bay, Carson City resumed convoy escort duty in the New Guinea area, shuttling to Wakde, Biak, Noemfoor, Sansapor, Morotai, and Mios Woendi until 26 November 1944, when she departed New Guinea for Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, where she underwent an overhaul. Upon its completion, she steamed north for duty with the Alaskan Sea Frontier at Dutch Harbor, Territory of Alaska, where she reported on 12 January 1945 and began patrol and escort duties in Alaskan waters. Selected for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula – a secret program for the transfer of US Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay, Alaska, in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan – Carson City proceeded to Cold Bay in August 1945 and began training her new Soviet crew.[3]
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 NavyJames 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-20 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but on 1 November 1949, the Soviet Union finally returned EK-20 to the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.[4]
Reverting to her original name, Carson City lay idle in the Pacific Reserve Fleet until the United States transferred her to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on 30 April 1953 as JDS Sakura (PF-10) (さくら (PF-10), "cherry blossom").[5]Sakura was redesignated PF-290 on 1 September 1957.[5] She was reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" (YAC) and renamed YAC-16 on 31 March 1966.[5] She was decommissioned on 31 March 1971 and returned to U.S. custody for disposal on 6 August 1971. Her final disposition is unknown.[6]
According to some reports, ex-USS Carson City was sold for scrap following her return from Japanese control, and was scrapped by a breaker in Taiwan. The ships bell is currently displayed inside the City Hall of Carson City, Nevada, along with the ship's commissioning pennant.[7]
Awards
The US Navy awarded Carson City two battle stars for her World War II service.
^ abcdefgThe Dictionary of American Naval Fighting ShipsCarson City article states that Carsion City was transferred on 29 August 1945 and hazegray.org Carson City repeats this, while NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Carson City (PF 50) ex-PG-158 states that the U.S. Navy decommissioned the ship on 29 August 1945 and transferred her on 30 August 1945. However, Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39, 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 – 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 – indicating that Carson City's U.S. Navy decommissioning, transfer, and Soviet Navy commissioning all occurred simultaneously on 26 August 1945.
^ abNavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Carson City (PF 50) ex-PG-158 states that Carson City was named EK-22 in Soviet service, but Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the ship's Soviet name was EK-20. 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.
^ abRussell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39.
^Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, pp. 37–38, 39.
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