ROKS Dangpo (PCEC 56)

ROKS Dangpo (PCEC 56) was a patrol craft of the Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN). She was originally built as USS PCE-842, a for the United States Navy during World War II. Dangpo was acquired by South Korea on 13 December 1961 and sunk by North Korean coastal artillery fire on 19 January 1967.

U.S. service
PCE-842 was laid down by Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Co. on 12 June 1943; reclassified PCE(R)‑842 on 19 June 1943; again reclassified PCE‑842 on 15 July 1943; launched 14 November 1943; placed in ferry commission 14 November 1943 for transfer down the Mississippi River; and commissioned at New Orleans, on 29 January 1944, Lt. G. C. Homans in command.

After shakedown along the mast of Florida, PCE‑842 departed Key West 15 March 1944 for convoy escort duty under the 4th Fleet out of Trinidad, British West Indies. She reached Teteron Bay 20 March and on the 31st sailed on her initial escort run. For the next 6 months, PCE‑842 guarded convoys between Trinidad and Recife, Brazil, conducting intensive antisubmarine training between escort voyages.

Arriving Key West 3 December, she left Florida 21 January 1945 with three sister ships for the Panama Canal and Hollandia, New Guinea, arriving 1 March. Nine days later she sailed via the Palaus for duty with the local defense forces of the Philippine sea frontier, and for the remainder of the war conducted antisubmarine patrols and gave escort service for the massive volume of shipping moving about the Philippines.

Following the Surrender of Japan, PCE‑842 remained in the western Pacific as a weather station ship, ranging from the Philippines to the Marshall Islands. She returned to San Pedro, California, 29 August 1947, then sailed via the Panama Canal for New Orleans, arriving 28 September.

PCE‑842 decommissioned at New Orleans 7 November 1947 and immediately began duty as a Naval Reserve training ship, cruising the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, and visiting Mexico and Cuba.

PCE‑842 trained the Naval Reserve until 13 June 1955, when she sailed to Green Cove Springs to enter the Atlantic Reserve Fleet 17 August. While berthed at Green Cove Springs, she was named Marfa (PCE‑842) on 15 February 1956 after Marfa, Texas. On 20 March 1961 she was authorized for transfer to South Korea. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 June 1961.

South Korean service
Under terms of the Military Assistance Program, she was transferred to South Korea on 13 December 1961.

Recommissioned as ROKS Dangpo (PCEC 56) she served in the ROKN until sunk by North Korean coastal artillery, north of the maritime demarcation line off the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula on 19 January 1967. 39 of the 79 man crew were killed.