USS Orlando (PF-99)
Encyclopedia

USS Orlando (PF-99), a Tacoma-class frigate
Tacoma class frigate
The Tacoma class of patrol frigates served in the US Navy during World War II. Named for Tacoma, Washington, the Tacoma class design was based on the British River class frigates, primarily distinguished by the pole foremast and lighter main guns...

, was the only ship of the United States Navy
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...

 to be named for Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

.

She was authorized with the hull classification symbol
Hull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...

 PG-207 but reclassified PF-99 in April 1943. Her keel was laid down 2 August 1943 under a Maritime Commission Contract by American Ship Building Company
American Ship Building Company
The American Ship Building Company was the dominant shipbuilder on the Great Lakes before the Second World War. It started as Cleveland Shipbuilding in Cleveland, Ohio in 1888 and opened the yard in Lorain, Ohio in 1898...

, in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

. She was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 1 December 1943 sponsored by Mrs. E. Harold Johnson, 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...

 on 15 November 1944 with Lieutenant Commander James A. Hyslop, USCG, in command.

After Orlando made a shakedown cruise to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, her first convoy departed from Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

 on 7 February 1945. Orlando rounded up the stragglers from her position in the rear of the 37-ship convoy bound for Mers el Kebir, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

, North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

. The convoy passed through the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...

 on 22 February and arrived at Mers el Kebir two days later.

On 3 March escort duty commenced again as a 43-ship convoy started on its way across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. By 15 March various units of the convoy began to detach themselves from the main body of ships and Orlando departed the convoy to proceed to Boston, Massachusetts.

After training exercises Orlando commenced her second trans-Atlantic voyage to Mers el Kebir as convoy screen. The ship remained at Mers el Kebir until joining a convoy bound for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 on 2 May. With the crossing completed, the convoy commenced to break up on 14 May and Orlando returned to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 with a section of the convoy before proceeding to Boston for voyage repairs.

On 5 July Orlando departed for New York to be converted to a weather ship and prepare for distant service. The frigate got underway from New York Harbor 10 August bound for the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

. On the way the successful conclusion of the war against Japan was announced.

The ship transited the Panama Canal 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 5 September 1945. Five days later Orlando and Gulfport stood out of the channel at Pearl Harbor and set course for Adak
Adak Island
Adak Island is an island near the western extent of the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Alaska's southernmost town, Adak, is located on the island...

 in the Andreanof Islands
Andreanof Islands
The Andreanof Islands are a group of islands in the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. They are located between Amchitka Pass and the Rat Islands group to the west, and Amukta Pass and the Islands of Four Mountains group to the east, at about 52° North and 172°57' to 179°09' West. The islands...

 to moor in Sweepers Cove, Adak on 16 September.

The ship took a weather station in the area around 43 degrees North
43rd parallel north
The 43rd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 43 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....

, 165 degrees East
165th meridian east
The meridian 165° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....

 from 7 October until 25 October. Through the month of November the ship was moored in Finger Bay, Adak. The lonely weather station duty continued as Orlando remained in the area around Adak until arriving at Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, on 12 May 1946.

The naval career of the frigate Orlando ended at Seattle where she was placed out of commission 27 June 1946, was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 on 19 July 1946, and was sold for scrapping 10 November 1947 to the Zidell Ship Dismantling Company.

Cinderella Liberty

In the 1973 film Cinderella Liberty
Cinderella Liberty
Cinderella Liberty is a 1973 film which tells the story of a sailor who falls in love with a prostitute and becomes a surrogate father for her 11-year-old mixed race son. It stars James Caan, Marsha Mason, Kirk Calloway, Eli Wallach, Burt Young, Allyn Ann McLerie, Dabney Coleman, Jon Korkes, and...

, James Caan
James Caan
James Caan is an American actor. He is best known for his starring roles in The Godfather, Thief, Misery, A Bridge Too Far, Brian's Song, Rollerball, Kiss Me Goodbye, Elf, and El Dorado...

 portrayed a Sailor assigned to the USS Orlando and wore the ships name on his right shoulder rocker.

Down Periscope

The 1996 comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 Down Periscope
Down Periscope
Down Periscope is a 1996 comedy film starring Kelsey Grammer as the captain of a rust-bucket Navy submarine, the USS Stingray, who is fighting for his career....

includes a fictitious Los Angeles-class submarine
Los Angeles class submarine
The Los Angeles class, sometimes called the LA class or the 688 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines that forms the backbone of the United States submarine fleet. With 43 submarines on active duty and 19 retired, the Los Angeles class is the most numerous nuclear powered...

 Orlando (SSN-852). (Which flight cannot be determined; when submerged, she has the sail planes of an early model LA boat, but when surfaced, she has the bow planes of a 688i.) No submarine of the United States Navy
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...

 has ever been named Orlando and , hull classification symbol
Hull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...

SSN-852 has not yet been assigned.

External links

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