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 – Pasco proceeded to Cold Bay, in the summer of 1945, and began training her new Soviet crew.[4]
Soviet Navy, 1945–1949
Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, Pasco was decommissioned on 16 August 1945, at Cold Bay, and transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease immediately along with her sister shipsTacoma, Sausalito, Hoquiam, Albuquerque, and Everett. Commissioned into the Soviet Navy immediately,[a]Pasco was designated as a storozhevoi korabl ("escort ship") and renamed EK-12 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.[4]
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-12 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but on 16 October 1949[b] the Soviet Union finally returned EK-12 to the US Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.[5]
Reverting to her former name, Pasco lay idle in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Yokosuka until loaned to Japan in 1953, entering service in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Kashi (PF-3) (かし (PF-3), "live oak").[6]Kashi was redesignated PF-283 on 1 September 1957.[6] The United States struck the ship from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1961, and transferred her to Japan outright in 1964. Kashi was decommissioned on 30 June 1967, reclassified as an "auxiliary stock craft" (YAC), and renamed YAC-12. She was returned to US custody on 18 March 1968.[2][6]
Republic of Korea Navy, 1969
The United States transferred the ship to South Korea in 1969, and the Republic of Korea Navy cannibalized her for spare parts for its other Tacoma-class patrol frigates. In April 1969, the ship was converted to a floating pier. Her final disposition is unknown.[2]
Notes
^ abAccording to 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, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, Project Hula ships were commissioned into the Soviet Navy simultaneously with their transfer from the U.S. 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, which Russell says typified the transfer process. 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.
^ abThe Dictionary of American Naval Fighting ShipsPasco article states that the Soviet Union returned Pasco in 1950 and NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Pasco (PF 6) ex-PG-114 and hazegray.org Pasco repeat this. 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, pp. 38, 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the Soviet Union returned 27 patrol frigates transferred in Project Hula, including Pasco, during October and November 1949. 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.
"Pasco (PF 6)". Navsource.org. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
Russell, Richard A. (1997). Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center. ISBN0-945274-35-1.