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RVNS Tran Quoc Toan (HQ-06)
Encyclopedia
RVNS Tran Quoc Toan(HQ-03) was a South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
ese frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
of the Republic of Vietnam Navy
Republic of Vietnam Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy was the naval force of the former Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France. After 1955 and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States...
in commission from 1971 to 1975. She and her six sister ships were the largest South Vietnamese naval ships of their time.
Construction and United States Navy service 1944-1946
Tran Quoc Toan was built in the United States as the United States NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
Barnegat-class seaplane tender
Seaplane tender
A seaplane tender is a ship that provides facilities for operating seaplanes. These ships were the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.-History:...
. She was laid down on 23 August 1943 by Lake Washington Shipyard
Lake Washington Shipyard
Lake Washington Shipyards was a shipyard in Houghton, Washington on the shore of Lake Washington. Today the shipyards are the site of the lakeside Carillon Point business park...
at Houghton
Houghton, Washington
Houghton is one of the lakeside neighborhoods of the city of Kirkland, Washington. Consisting mostly of upscale, single-family homes, Houghton overlooks Lake Washington and is one of the wealthier districts of the Eastside suburbs of Seattle. The village was named for Willard Houghton, a local...
, Washington, launched on 13 May 1944, and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
into the U.S. Navy on 5 November 1944. She served in the Central Pacific during World War II and on occupation duty in Japan and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
postwar. She was decommissioned
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....
in March 1946 and placed in reserve.
United States Coast Guard service 1949-1971
The U.S. Navy loaned Cook Inlet to the United States Coast GuardUnited States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
in 1948 and transferred her permanently to the Coast Guard in 1966. She was commissioned as the Coast Guard cutter
United States Coast Guard Cutter
Cutter is the term used by the United States Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. A Cutter is or greater in length, has a permanently assigned crew, and has accommodations for the crew to live aboard...
USCGC Cook Inlet (WAVP-384)
USCGC Cook Inlet (WAVP-384)
USCGC Cook Inlet , later WHEC-384, was a Casco-class United States Coast Guard cutter in service from 1949 to 1971.-Construction and U.S. Navy service:...
in 1949 and was redesignated a high endurance cutter
High endurance cutter
The designation of High endurance cutter was created in 1965 when the United States Coast Guard adopted its own designation system. High endurance cutters encompassed its largest cutters previously designated by the United States Navy as Coast Guard gunboats , Coast Guard destroyer escorts , and...
and reclassified as WHEC-384 in 1966. Throughout her Coast Guard career of almost 23 years, she patrolled ocean stations in the North Atlantic, reporting weather data and conducting law-enforcement
Law enforcement agency
In North American English, a law enforcement agency is a government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.Outside North America, such organizations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police while others have other names In North American...
and search-and-rescue operations. She also served in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
for several months in 1971.
Acquisition and operations
After her antisubmarine warfare equipment had been removed, Cook Inlet was transferred to South VietnamSouth Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
on 21 December 1971 and was commissioned into the Republic of Vietnam Navy
Republic of Vietnam Navy
The Republic of Vietnam Navy was the naval force of the former Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats from France. After 1955 and the transfer of the armed forces to Vietnamese control, the fleet was supplied from the United States...
as the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
RVNS Tran Quoc Toan (HQ-03) By mid-1972, six other former Casco-class cutters also were in South Vietnamese service. They were the largest warships in the South Vietnamese inventory, and their 5-inch (127-millimeter) guns were South Vietnam's largest naval guns. Tran Quoc Toan and her sisters fought alongside U.S. Navy ships during the final years of the Vietnam War, patrolling the South Vietnamese coast and providing gunfire support to South Vietnamese forces ashore.
When South Vietnam collapsed at the end of the Vietnam War in late April 1975, Tran Quoc Toan became a ship without a country. She fled to Subic Bay
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, packed with South Vietnamese refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s. On 22 May 1975 and 23 May 1975, a U.S. Coast Guard team inspected Tran Quoc Toan and five of her sister ships, which also had fled to the Philippines in April 1975. One of the inspectors noted: "These vessels brought in several hundred refugees and are generally rat-infested. They are in a filthy, deplorable condition. Below decks generally would compare with a garbage scow."
Acquisition for spare parts by the Philippines
The United States formally transferred Tran Quoc Toan to the Republic of the Philippines on 5 April 1976. She did not enter Philippine NavyPhilippine Navy
The Philippine Navy is the naval arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines . Its official name in Filipino is Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, literally, "Sea Force of the Philippines"....
service; instead she and her sister ship RVNS Tran Nhat Duat (HQ-03)
RVNS Tran Nhat Duat (HQ-03)
RVNS Tran Nhat Duat was a South Vietnamese frigate of the Republic of Vietnam Navy in commission from 1971 to 1975. She and her six sister ships were the largest South Vietnamese naval ships of their time....
were cannibalized for spare parts to allow the Philippines to keep four other sister ships in commission in the Philippine Navy.
The former Tran Quoc Toan was discarded in 1982 and probably scrapped.