USS Natchez (PF-2)

USS Natchez (PG-102/PF-2) was an River-class frigate (known as an Asheville-class patrol frigate in US service) acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was originally ordered and laid down as HMS Annan for the Royal Navy, and renamed as HMCS Annan for the Royal Canadian Navy before transfer to the U.S. Navy before launch.

She was used for anti-submarine patrol work during the war.

Post-war, she was decommissioned and ended up in the hands of the Dominican Navy as Juan Pablo Duarte in 1947, but ran aground and taken out of service in 1949. In the 1950 she was sold to Puerto Rican engineer Félix Benítez as a private yacht. The ship was broken up in 1959.

Career
Natchez was laid down 16 March 1942 by Canadian Vickers Ltd., Montreal, Canada as HMS Annan, later designated as HMCS Annan. Due to a lack of American patrol vessels she was acquired by the U.S. Navy 20 July 1942. Launched on 12 September 1942, she was classified as Natchez (PG-102) on 8 October 1942and commissioned at Ottawa, Canada 16 December 1942.

Natchez sailed under escort to Boston, Massachusetts, arriving at the Boston Navy Yard 16 January 1943 for fitting out. On 1 March she reported for duty to Commander Eastern Sea Frontier and was assigned escort duty for merchant convoys between Cuba and New York. Natchez was reclassified as PF-2 on 15 April 1943.

On 4 December, Cuban freighter SS Libertad was reported missing from her convoy off the southern Atlantic coast. Natchez with several other patrol vessels, was dispatched to the scene, guided by homing signals from Navy blimps. Natchez found only three survivors who related that their ship had been torpedoed and sank before they could notify the convoy commander.

Through 1944, Natchez escorted convoys and performed anti-submarine patrol duties. While on convoy duty 29 April 1943, she simultaneously received a sonar contact and sighted the snorkel of a German U-boat, 98 mi east of Cape Henry, Virginia. Launching an immediate attack, she was quickly joined by three destroyer escorts: USS Coffman (DE-191), USS Bostwick (DE-103) and USS Thomas (DE-102). Hedgehogs and depth charges were used as the four vessels sought to trap the enemy submarine. Finally contact was lost and a large quantity of oil was seen to rise to the surface, indicating destruction of the U-boat. German sources, at the end of the war, substantiated that U-548 had been lost as a result of this attack.

At the end of the war, Natchez was still patrolling in the Atlantic. She returned to Charleston, South Carolina, 29 June 1945 for inactivation and disposal.

She was delivered to the Maritime Commission, 19 November 1945 for disposal. She was sold, 29 July 1947 to Louis Moore of Miami, Florida then resold on 19 March 1948 to the Dominican Republic as Juan Pablo Duarte (F102). She ran aground at Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic in November 1949 and taken out of service due to damage. She was then sold to Félix Benítez, a Puerto Rican engineer, who repaired her and converted her to his personal yacht Moineau. She was broken up in 1959.