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NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive

USS Covington (PF 56)
ex-USCGC Covington (PF-56)
ex-USS Covington (PF-56)



Call sign:
Nan - Zebra - Xray - Charlie

ex-PG-164


Covington served the Navies of the United States and Ecuador.
Tacoma Class Patrol Frigate:

  • (MC Type T. S2-S2-AQ1) The third Covington was originally authorized as Patrol Gunboat, PG-164
  • Redesignated a Patrol Frigate, PF-56, 15 April 1943
  • Laid down 1 March 1943 under a Maritime Commission contract at Globe Shipbuilding Co., Superior, Wisconsin
  • Launched 15 July 1943
  • Delivered 5 August 1944
  • Placed in "ferry" commission 7 August 1944
  • Commissioned USS Covington (PF-56), 17 October 1944
  • Decommissioned 16 March 1946 at Charleston, SC loaned to the Coast Guard and recommissioned USCGC Covington (PF 56) the same day
  • Returned to U.S. Navy custody 17 September 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register in April 1947
  • Transferred to the State Department, Foreign Liquidation Commission 28 August 1947 for further transferred to Ecuador and renamed Guayas
  • Designated E-01 in 1963
  • Reclassified E-21
  • Decommissioned in 1972
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,430 t.
  • Length 303' 11"(oa)
  • Beam 37' 6"
  • Draft 13' 8"
  • Speed 20.3 kts.
  • Complement 190
  • Armament: Two 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts, two twin 40mm gun mounts , nine 20mm guns, one Hedgehog depth charge projector, eight Y-gun depth charge projectors and two depth charge tracks
  • Propulsion; Two 3-drum express boilers, two 5,500 iHP J. Hendy Iron Works engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Covington (PF 56)
    Covington 76k 15 June 1943
    Launching
    Photo from University of Wisconsin-Madison Digital Library    		 John Spivey
    Photo added 6 June 2021
    USS Covington (PF 56)
    Covington 97k Underway in 1945
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 79001    		 Mike Green
    Covington 91k Covington, at left, and USS Lorain (PF-93) docked at New York City, 1946. The original photograph is dated 11 May 1946, when the ships were on loan to the U.S.
    Coast Guard
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 79870
    Guayas
    Covington 37k Robert Hurst
    Covington 77k c. late 1940s or early 1950s.
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 45337    		 Mike Green
    Covington 33k c. 1955
    Ecuadorean Navy photo    		 Robert Hurst
    Covington 58k c. 1960
    Courtesy of Mr. W. H. Davis from the 1960/1961 edition of Janes Fighting Ships
    Guayas (E 01)
    Covington 68k Robert Hurst
    Covington 178k c. 1963
    Ecuadorian Navy photo from the 1964/1965 edition of Janes Fighting Ships
    Guayas (E 21)
    Covington 45k c. 1967 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR Frederick S. Brown, USCGR17 October 1944 - 19 September 1945
    02LCDR Roy Methvin Hutchins, Jr., USCG - Awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal (1943)19 September 1945 - 16 March 1946
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Covington (PF-56)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Ship Index Back to the Patrol Gunboat (PG) Photo Index Back to the Patrol Frigate (PF) Photo Index
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