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USS Tulsa (PG-22)
Encyclopedia
USS Tulsa (PG-22), nicknamed the Galloping Ghost of the South China Coast, was an Asheville class gunboat in the United States Navy
that was in commission from 1923 to 1946. She was named after the city of Tulsa
, Oklahoma
, and the county seat
of Tulsa County
. Tulsa was laid down on 9 December 1919 at the Charleston Navy Yard; launched on 25 August 1922; sponsored by Miss Dorothy V. McBirney; and commissioned there on 3 December 1923, Lieutenant Commander
Robert M. Doyle, Jr., in temporary command. Lt. Cdr. Doyle assumed his regular duties as executive officer on 14 December 1923 when Commander
MacGillivray Milne
assumed command.
. She called at Key West, Florida
, on 22 January, before proceeding to Baytown, Texas
, where she took on fuel four days later.
The ship spent the next five years on station in Central American waters, "showing the flag" and calling at such places as Tuxpan
and Vera Cruz
, Mexico
; Guantanamo Bay
, Cuba
; and at ports in Puerto Rico
and the Canal Zone
. In between cruises with the Special Service Squadron, she returned to Boston, Massachusetts, for yard repair work.
When civil strife broke out in Nicaragua
in the late 1920s, details of marines and bluejackets from Tulsa landed to protect lives and preserve property. When not engaged in these duties, the patrol gunboat conducted routine training exercises in waters near the Panama Canal Zone and visited ports in Honduras
.
En route for the west coast late in 1928, Tulsa transited the Panama Canal as she prepared for duty in the Far East. She departed San Francisco, California
, on 24 January 1929, called at Honolulu
and Guam
, and proceeded to Manila
.
Designated flagship of the South China Patrol on 1 April, Tulsa operated out of Hong Kong
, British Crown Colony; and Guangzhou
, China
, for cruises up the Pearl River
and along the south China coast. At Guangzhou in May 1929, she witnessed the bombing of Chinese naval vessels by airplanes of the opposing faction in a Chinese civil war flaring at the time.
Relieved in June by as flagship of the South China Patrol, she steamed up the coast to Shanghai
, beginning a two-week deployment with the Yangtze Patrol
in which she cruised as far upriver as Hankou
. Assigned new duties as station ship at Tientsin
in north China, Tulsa headed north in July 1929 to serve as a mobile source of information for the Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet
(CINCAF).
She continued under the direct operational control of CINCAF into the 1930s, being later reassigned to the South China Patrol and observing conditions along the south China coast during the period following the outbreak of the undeclared Sino-Japanese war in July 1937. As tensions increased in the Orient in 1940 and 1941, Admiral Thomas C. Hart
, CINCAF, incrementally reduced the Asiatic Fleet's presence in Chinese waters. Withdrawn to the Philippines
in May 1941, Tulsa joined the Inshore Patrol, guarding the sea approaches to Manila Bay
.
, the base of the Asiatic Fleet, near Manila. Standing in from the Corregidor
minefields, Tulsa anchored off the burning base as the last Japanese planes departed. She called away all of her boats and sent fire and rescue parties ashore to bring off what wounded could be rescued from the holocaust. At 19:00, she recalled all hands that were ashore; and, within hours, Tulsa, , , and retired toward Balikpapan
, Borneo
.
After a brief stay at that port, she called at Makassar
before receiving orders to proceed to Surabaya
, Java
, in the Netherlands East Indies, where she spent Christmas. Then, steaming independently, she cruised to Tjilatjap, on the south coast of Java, where her landing force began to receive training in jungle warfare. The plan to use Tulsas bluejackets as infantry in a last-ditch defense of Java never progressed beyond the initial training stage, and her erstwhile ground troops returned to the ship as she was being outfitted to become a convoy escort vessel.
Equipped with a home-made depth charge rack constructed by the ship's crew, Tulsa now boasted an antisubmarine capacity and began escorting merchantmen along the south coast of Java to Tjilatjap, the only port on the island still out of reach of Japanese bombers. While engaged on convoy duty in late February, Tulsa received orders to proceed to a point 300 mi (260.7 nmi; 482.8 km) to the south of Java. En route, she learned that her mission included searching for survivors of the seaplane tender
, sunk on 26 February 1942. When she arrived at the scene, however, she found only traces of wreckage, but no survivors. Unbeknownst to Tulsa, Langleys survivors had already been rescued by and .
After this apparently fruitless rescue attempt, Tulsa came upon the scene of the sinking of British merchant ship City of Manchester. Whippoorwill already had begun rescue operations, yet needed medical facilities which Tulsa had on board. The gunboat hove to and assisted the minesweeper in the lifesaving, then returned to Tjilatjap where she awaited instructions, ready for sea at a moment's notice.
With Java being rapidly encircled by the onrushing Japanese, orders to retire were not long in coming. On 1 March 1942. Tulsa, Asheville, Lark, and crept out of Tjilatjap, bound for Australia
. While the other three ships steamed resolutely onward, Asheville soon developed engine difficulties and fell behind, only to be trapped and sunk by superior Japanese surface forces.
Tulsa and her two companions arrived in Australian waters shortly thereafter. They were the last surface ships of the Asiatic Fleet to survive the Japanese onslaught in the East Indies; and they escaped, by a hairsbreadth, the fate which befell Asheville.
For the seven months following her arrival in Fremantle
, she engaged in routine patrols off the Australian coast before being refitted at Sydney
in October 1942. Here, she received British ASDIC, degaussing
equipment, Y-gun, and 20 mm
anti-aircraft
autocannon
s. Thus outfitted, she served once again as a convoy escort, occasionally towing targets as well.
In the latter half of 1942, she was attached to Submarine Forces, Southwest Pacific, and operated independently out of Brisbane
as a target for the submarines out of Fremantle. She then gave submariners practice in making approaches and battle surfacing. With the beginning of the Buna-Gona offensives
in New Guinea
, Tulsa escorted PT boats to take part in that campaign and operated between Milne Bay
, New Guinea, and Cairns
, Australia. When the PT boat base at Kona Kope, on the southeastern shores of Milne Bay, was established in November 1942, Tulsa brought in much-needed equipment to aid in the operations being-conducted from that base. But five days before Christmas 1942, Tulsa grounded on an uncharted pinnacle and damaged her ASDIC gear, necessitating a return to yard facilities for repairs.
Soon returning to the war zone, she resumed patrols off Milne Bay. On the night of 20 January 1943, six Japanese bombers attacked the ship. In the short, sharp action which followed, Tulsa put up a spirited defense with her 3-inch and 20 mm antiaircraft battery, driving off the attackers with no damage to herself, while dodging 12 bombs.
For the remainder of 1943, she continued operating in the New Guinea-Australian area, tending PT boats, escorting supply ships, and serving as flagship of the 7th Fleet. On one occasion while serving as a PT boat tender, Tulsa towed PT-109
, later commanded by future U.S. president Lt. (jg.) John F. Kennedy
, USNR.
After a major overhaul in December 1943, she resumed operations in the Milne Bay-Cape Cretin area. She departed the bay on 8 January 1944, with a fuel barge in tow, en route to Cape Cretin. There, she joined , LST-453, and SS Mulcra, to serve as headquarters ship for Capt. Bern C. Anderson, Commander, Task Unit 76.5.3 (TU 76.5.3).
Under the control of Commander, Escorts and Mine-craft Squadrons, 7th Fleet, she served in the Finschafen-Buna area and participated in the Hollandia
strike on 26 April and the Wakde
landing on 17 May. She then continued in her role of escort vessel and patrol craft in the New Guinea-Australia area before proceeding to the Philippines in November 1944.
Returning to the scene of her hurried departure nearly four years before, Tulsa continued operations with the 7th Fleet in the Philippines. On 18 December 1944, she was renamed Tacloban, after a town
on the island of Leyte
, where American forces had landed a scant two months earlier, freeing the name Tulsa to be used for the planned USS Tulsa (CA-129)
.
As the U.S. Navy swept northward towards the Japanese home islands, and fierce fighting ensued on Okinawa and Iwo Jima, Tacloban performed the necessary tasks of convoy escort and local patrol vessel at fleet anchorages. On 26 August 1945, she was detached from duty with the Local Defense Force, Macajalar Bay
, on the northwestern coast of Mindanao
, and sent to Leyte. Arriving a week later, she received orders to accompany USCGC Ingham (WPG-35) and LCI-230 to Buckner Bay
, Okinawa.
On 7 September, en route to her destination, Tacloban was slowed by an overheated bearing, and her speed dropped to 3.1 kn (3.8 mph; 6.1 km/h). Left to proceed in company with LCI-230, Tacloban limped into Buckner Bay on 13 September. Task Force 74 (TF 74), to which she had been attached, sailed for Shanghai, China, two days later; but Tacloban, an "Old China Hand," could not make the trip and remained at Buckner Bay.
Following voyage repairs, she continued across the Pacific and arrived at Pearl Harbor
on 18 December 1945. Thirteen days later, she headed for the California coast and arrived at San Francisco, on 10 January 1946.
Aged and worn, she was decommissioned on 6 March; struck from the Navy list on 17 April; and turned over to the War Shipping Administration, Maritime Commission on 12 October for disposal.
United 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...
that was in commission from 1923 to 1946. She was named after the city of Tulsa
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, and the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
of Tulsa County
Tulsa County, Oklahoma
Tulsa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population is 603,403. Its county seat is Tulsa.-History of Tulsa County:The history of Tulsa County greatly overlaps the history of the city of Tulsa...
. Tulsa was laid down on 9 December 1919 at the Charleston Navy Yard; launched on 25 August 1922; sponsored by Miss Dorothy V. McBirney; and commissioned there on 3 December 1923, Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant commander (United States)
Lieutenant commander is a mid-ranking officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-4 and NATO rank code OF-3...
Robert M. Doyle, Jr., in temporary command. Lt. Cdr. Doyle assumed his regular duties as executive officer on 14 December 1923 when Commander
Commander (United States)
In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...
MacGillivray Milne
MacGillivray Milne
MacGillivray Milne was a United States Navy Captain, and the 27th Governor of American Samoa from January 20, 1936, to June 3, 1938. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy, Milne served many posts in the Navy, including heading the Department of Modern Languages at the Naval Academy...
assumed command.
Pre-World War II
Tulsa left Charleston Navy Yard on 19 January 1924, bound for the Caribbean to join the Special Service SquadronSpecial Service Squadron
The Special Service Squadron was a component of the United States Navy during the 1920s and 1930s.Under the United States Fleet, the squadron patrolled the Caribbean Sea as an instrument of gunboat diplomacy. It was headquartered in Balboa, Panama Canal Zone.-Commanders:* C.H. Hockson 1907 * Henry...
. She called at Key West, Florida
Key West, Florida
Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...
, on 22 January, before proceeding to Baytown, Texas
Baytown, Texas
Baytown is a city within Harris County and partially in Chambers County in the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. state of Texas. Located within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area, it lies along both State Highway 146 and Interstate 10. As of 2010, Baytown had an population of 71,802...
, where she took on fuel four days later.
The ship spent the next five years on station in Central American waters, "showing the flag" and calling at such places as Tuxpan
Tuxpan
Tuxpan is both a municipality and city located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The population of the city was 78,523 and of the municipality was 134,394 inhabitants, according to the INEGI census of 2005, residing in a total area of 1,051.89 km²...
and Vera Cruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
; Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
; and at ports in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and the Canal Zone
Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...
. In between cruises with the Special Service Squadron, she returned to Boston, Massachusetts, for yard repair work.
When civil strife broke out in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
in the late 1920s, details of marines and bluejackets from Tulsa landed to protect lives and preserve property. When not engaged in these duties, the patrol gunboat conducted routine training exercises in waters near the Panama Canal Zone and visited ports in Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
.
En route for the west coast late in 1928, Tulsa transited the Panama Canal as she prepared for duty in the Far East. She departed San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, on 24 January 1929, called at Honolulu
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
and Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, and proceeded to Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
.
Designated flagship of the South China Patrol on 1 April, Tulsa operated out of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, British Crown Colony; and Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, for cruises up the Pearl River
Pearl River (China)
The Pearl River or less commonly, the "Guangdong River" or "Canton River" etc., , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name Pearl River is usually used as a catchment term to refer to the watersheds of the Xi Jiang , the Bei Jiang , and the Dong Jiang...
and along the south China coast. At Guangzhou in May 1929, she witnessed the bombing of Chinese naval vessels by airplanes of the opposing faction in a Chinese civil war flaring at the time.
Relieved in June by as flagship of the South China Patrol, she steamed up the coast to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, beginning a two-week deployment with the Yangtze Patrol
Yangtze Patrol
The Yangtze Patrol, from 1854 to 1945, was a prolonged naval operation to protect American interests in the Yangtze River's treaty ports. Initially the patrol was carried out by ships of the United States Navy's East India and Asiatic Squadrons. In 1922, the "YangPat" was established as a formal...
in which she cruised as far upriver as Hankou
Hankou
Hankou was one of the three cities whose merging formed modern-day Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers where the Han falls into the Yangtze...
. Assigned new duties as station ship at Tientsin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
in north China, Tulsa headed north in July 1929 to serve as a mobile source of information for the Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet
United States Asiatic Fleet
The United States Asiatic Fleet was part of the U.S. Navy. Preceding the World War II era, until 1942, the fleet protected the Philippines.Originally the Asiatic Squadron, it was upgraded to fleet status in 1902. In 1907, the fleet became the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet. However, on 28...
(CINCAF).
She continued under the direct operational control of CINCAF into the 1930s, being later reassigned to the South China Patrol and observing conditions along the south China coast during the period following the outbreak of the undeclared Sino-Japanese war in July 1937. As tensions increased in the Orient in 1940 and 1941, Admiral Thomas C. Hart
Thomas C. Hart
Thomas Charles Hart was an admiral of the United States Navy, whose service extended from the Spanish-American War through World War II. Following his retirement from the Navy, he served briefly as a United States Senator from Connecticut.-Life and career:Hart was born in Genesee County, Michigan...
, CINCAF, incrementally reduced the Asiatic Fleet's presence in Chinese waters. Withdrawn to 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...
in May 1941, Tulsa joined the Inshore Patrol, guarding the sea approaches to Manila Bay
Manila Bay
Manila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila , in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world...
.
World War II
On 10 December 1941, two days after the outbreak of war in the Philippines, a heavy Japanese air attack devastated CaviteU.S. Naval Station Sangley Point
Naval Station Sangley Point was a communication and hospital facility of the United States Navy which occupied the northern portion of the Cavite City peninsula and is surrounded by Manila Bay, approximately eight miles southwest of Manila, the Philippines. The station was a part of the Cavite...
, the base of the Asiatic Fleet, near Manila. Standing in from the Corregidor
Corregidor
Corregidor Island, locally called Isla ng Corregidor, is a lofty island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in southwestern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Due to this location, Corregidor was fortified with several coastal artillery and ammunition magazines to defend the entrance of...
minefields, Tulsa anchored off the burning base as the last Japanese planes departed. She called away all of her boats and sent fire and rescue parties ashore to bring off what wounded could be rescued from the holocaust. At 19:00, she recalled all hands that were ashore; and, within hours, Tulsa, , , and retired toward Balikpapan
Balikpapan
Balikpapan is a seaport city on the eastern coast of the island of Borneo, Indonesia, in the East Kalimantan province, a resource-rich region well known for its timber, mining, and petroleum export products. Two harbors, Semayang and Kariangau , and the Sepinggan International Airport are the main...
, Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
.
After a brief stay at that port, she called at Makassar
Makassar
Makassar, is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was named Ujung Pandang, after a precolonial fort in the city, and the two names are often used interchangeably...
before receiving orders to proceed to Surabaya
Surabaya
Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...
, Java
Java
Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...
, in the Netherlands East Indies, where she spent Christmas. Then, steaming independently, she cruised to Tjilatjap, on the south coast of Java, where her landing force began to receive training in jungle warfare. The plan to use Tulsas bluejackets as infantry in a last-ditch defense of Java never progressed beyond the initial training stage, and her erstwhile ground troops returned to the ship as she was being outfitted to become a convoy escort vessel.
Equipped with a home-made depth charge rack constructed by the ship's crew, Tulsa now boasted an antisubmarine capacity and began escorting merchantmen along the south coast of Java to Tjilatjap, the only port on the island still out of reach of Japanese bombers. While engaged on convoy duty in late February, Tulsa received orders to proceed to a point 300 mi (260.7 nmi; 482.8 km) to the south of Java. En route, she learned that her mission included searching for survivors of the 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:...
, sunk on 26 February 1942. When she arrived at the scene, however, she found only traces of wreckage, but no survivors. Unbeknownst to Tulsa, Langleys survivors had already been rescued by and .
After this apparently fruitless rescue attempt, Tulsa came upon the scene of the sinking of British merchant ship City of Manchester. Whippoorwill already had begun rescue operations, yet needed medical facilities which Tulsa had on board. The gunboat hove to and assisted the minesweeper in the lifesaving, then returned to Tjilatjap where she awaited instructions, ready for sea at a moment's notice.
With Java being rapidly encircled by the onrushing Japanese, orders to retire were not long in coming. On 1 March 1942. Tulsa, Asheville, Lark, and crept out of Tjilatjap, bound for Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. While the other three ships steamed resolutely onward, Asheville soon developed engine difficulties and fell behind, only to be trapped and sunk by superior Japanese surface forces.
Tulsa and her two companions arrived in Australian waters shortly thereafter. They were the last surface ships of the Asiatic Fleet to survive the Japanese onslaught in the East Indies; and they escaped, by a hairsbreadth, the fate which befell Asheville.
For the seven months following her arrival in Fremantle
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829...
, she engaged in routine patrols off the Australian coast before being refitted at Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in October 1942. Here, she received British ASDIC, degaussing
Degaussing
Degaussing is the process of decreasing or eliminating an unwanted magnetic field. It is named after Carl Friedrich Gauss, an early researcher in the field of magnetism...
equipment, Y-gun, and 20 mm
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...
anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
autocannon
Autocannon
An autocannon or automatic cannon is a rapid-fire projectile weapon firing a shell as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger caliber than a machine gun . Usually, autocannons are smaller than a field gun or other artillery, and are mechanically loaded for a...
s. Thus outfitted, she served once again as a convoy escort, occasionally towing targets as well.
In the latter half of 1942, she was attached to Submarine Forces, Southwest Pacific, and operated independently out of Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
as a target for the submarines out of Fremantle. She then gave submariners practice in making approaches and battle surfacing. With the beginning of the Buna-Gona offensives
Battle of Buna-Gona
The Battle of Buna–Gona was a battle in the New Guinea campaign, a major part of the Pacific campaign of World War II. On 16 November 1942, Australian and United States forces attacked the main Japanese beachheads in New Guinea, at Buna, Sanananda and Gona. Both forces were riddled by disease and...
in New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, Tulsa escorted PT boats to take part in that campaign and operated between Milne Bay
Milne Bay
Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, southeastern Papua New Guinea. The bay is named after Sir Alexander Milne.The area was a site of the Battle of Milne Bay in 1942....
, New Guinea, and Cairns
Cairns, Queensland
Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...
, Australia. When the PT boat base at Kona Kope, on the southeastern shores of Milne Bay, was established in November 1942, Tulsa brought in much-needed equipment to aid in the operations being-conducted from that base. But five days before Christmas 1942, Tulsa grounded on an uncharted pinnacle and damaged her ASDIC gear, necessitating a return to yard facilities for repairs.
Soon returning to the war zone, she resumed patrols off Milne Bay. On the night of 20 January 1943, six Japanese bombers attacked the ship. In the short, sharp action which followed, Tulsa put up a spirited defense with her 3-inch and 20 mm antiaircraft battery, driving off the attackers with no damage to herself, while dodging 12 bombs.
For the remainder of 1943, she continued operating in the New Guinea-Australian area, tending PT boats, escorting supply ships, and serving as flagship of the 7th Fleet. On one occasion while serving as a PT boat tender, Tulsa towed PT-109
Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109
PT-109 was a PT boat last commanded by Lieutenant, junior grade John F. Kennedy in the Pacific Theater during World War II...
, later commanded by future U.S. president Lt. (jg.) John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, USNR.
After a major overhaul in December 1943, she resumed operations in the Milne Bay-Cape Cretin area. She departed the bay on 8 January 1944, with a fuel barge in tow, en route to Cape Cretin. There, she joined , LST-453, and SS Mulcra, to serve as headquarters ship for Capt. Bern C. Anderson, Commander, Task Unit 76.5.3 (TU 76.5.3).
Under the control of Commander, Escorts and Mine-craft Squadrons, 7th Fleet, she served in the Finschafen-Buna area and participated in the Hollandia
Jayapura
Jayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....
strike on 26 April and the Wakde
Wakde
Wakde is an island of Indonesia, part of the province of West Papua, between the districts of Pantai Timur and Tor Atas.Occupied by Japanese forces in April 1942, Wakde served as an airbase...
landing on 17 May. She then continued in her role of escort vessel and patrol craft in the New Guinea-Australia area before proceeding to the Philippines in November 1944.
Returning to the scene of her hurried departure nearly four years before, Tulsa continued operations with the 7th Fleet in the Philippines. On 18 December 1944, she was renamed Tacloban, after a town
Tacloban City
The City of Tacloban is a port city approximately 360 miles southeast of Manila. It is the first in Eastern Visayas to be classified as a Highly Urbanized City. It is the capital of the Philippine province of Leyte and is the largest city in terms of population in Eastern Visayas...
on the island of Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
, where American forces had landed a scant two months earlier, freeing the name Tulsa to be used for the planned USS Tulsa (CA-129)
USS Tulsa
One ship of the United States Navy has been named USS Tulsa, after Tulsa, Oklahoma. A second ship of this name was planned but never built., a gunboat that served during World War II receiving two battle stars. Commissioned 3 December 1923 and renamed Tacloban 18 December 1944...
.
As the U.S. Navy swept northward towards the Japanese home islands, and fierce fighting ensued on Okinawa and Iwo Jima, Tacloban performed the necessary tasks of convoy escort and local patrol vessel at fleet anchorages. On 26 August 1945, she was detached from duty with the Local Defense Force, Macajalar Bay
Macajalar Bay
Macajalar Bay is a deep water bay located north of the Province of Misamis Oriental on the Mindanao island, southern part the Philippines. Cagayan de Oro City, being the regional center of Northern Mindanao , is located in one of its deep-water harbor...
, on the northwestern coast of Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
, and sent to Leyte. Arriving a week later, she received orders to accompany USCGC Ingham (WPG-35) and LCI-230 to Buckner Bay
Nakagusuku Bay
is a bay off the southern coast of Okinawa Island in Japan, at .American soldiers nicknamed the bay Buckner Bay, after General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr....
, Okinawa.
On 7 September, en route to her destination, Tacloban was slowed by an overheated bearing, and her speed dropped to 3.1 kn (3.8 mph; 6.1 km/h). Left to proceed in company with LCI-230, Tacloban limped into Buckner Bay on 13 September. Task Force 74 (TF 74), to which she had been attached, sailed for Shanghai, China, two days later; but Tacloban, an "Old China Hand," could not make the trip and remained at Buckner Bay.
Following voyage repairs, she continued across the Pacific and arrived at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on 18 December 1945. Thirteen days later, she headed for the California coast and arrived at San Francisco, on 10 January 1946.
Aged and worn, she was decommissioned on 6 March; struck from the Navy list on 17 April; and turned over to the War Shipping Administration, Maritime Commission on 12 October for disposal.