USS Charlottesville
USS Charlottesville (PF-25), a United States Navy in commission from 1944 to 1945, has been the only US Navy ship thus far to be named for Charlottesville, Virginia. She later served in the Soviet Navy as EK-1 and in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Matsu (PF-6), JDS Matsu (PF-286) and YAS-36. Construction and commissioning Originally classified as a patrol gunboat, PG-133, Charlottesville was reclassified as a patrol frigate, PF-25, on 15 April 1943. She was launched on 30 July 1943, by the Walter Butler Shipbuilding Company in Superior, Wisconsin, under a Maritime Commission contract, sponsored by Mrs. J. E. Gleason, wife of the mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia. The ship was commissioned on 10 April 1944. Service history U.S. Navy, World War II, 1944–1945 Departing New York City on 18 August 1944, Charlottesville arrived at Finschhafen, New Guinea, on 29 September 1944 by way of Bora Bora in the Society Islands. She operated on convoy escort and anti-submarine patrol duty between New Guinea and the Philippine Islands until 6 March 1945, when she departed Leyte in the Philippines for Seattle, Washington. Earmarked for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula, a secret program for the transfer of U.S.