USS St. Augustine (PG-54)

USS St. Augustine USS St. Augustine
History
United States of America
Name:	USS St. Augustine
Builder:	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA
Acquired:	5 December 1940
Commissioned:	16 January 1941
Fate:	Sunk after collision with merchant tanker
General characteristics
Type:	Gunboat
Displacement:	1,720 long tons (1,750 t) (full)
Length:	272 ft 2 in (82.96 m)
Beam:	36 ft (11 m)
Draft:	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion:	Turbo-electric 2 × shafts
Speed:	14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement:	185
Armament:	2 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns

USS St. Augustine (PG-54) was built in 1929 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. in Newport News, Virginia. She was originally a steel-hulled yacht named Viking and later named Noparo. She was purchased by the US Navy on 5 December 1940 and was sent to Bethlehem Steel Corp. in Boston, Massachusetts where she was converted into a patrol gunboat. She was named St. Augustine on 9 January 1941 and commissioned as USS St. Augustine on 16 January 1941.

St. Augustine was assigned to the 1st Naval District and operated out of Boston as a patrol ship until 1942. She was transferred to the Eastern Sea Frontier where she escorted convoys between New York City and various Caribbean ports. On the night of 6 January 1944, while leading a convoy from New York to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, St. Augustine was accidentally rammed by merchant tanker Camas Meadows off the coast of Cape May, New Jersey. St. Augustine foundered within five minutes, and 115 of the 145 crewmembers on board were killed.