into autumn. On 10 November, Van Buren departed Humboldt Bay, bound for Cape Sansapor with a convoy of four LSTs (, , , and ). En route on 16 November, its crew saw an Army plane crash away. They altered course and used the ship's motor whaleboat to rescue the aircraft's crew, unhurt. One week later, during operations in the Philippines, Van Buren went to general quarters when radioed contact with an unidentified plane closing on their vicinity. Van Burens SA radar picked up the enemy at ; her SL receivers picked up the contact at . Although ready for action, the frigate did not get a chance to engage, as the plane veered away and passed along the opposite side of the convoy, well beyond gun range. Van Buren continued her convoy escort and screening duties with the 7th Amphibious Force in the Philippines, into late 1944. After escorting a convoy to Leyte in mid-December, Van Buren sailed via Manus, in the Admiralties, to Hawaii. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 2 January 1945, Van Buren operated as a training ship attached to the U.S. Pacific Fleet's destroyer forces through the spring of 1945. Shifting to the west coast of the United States, soon thereafter, the patrol vessel arrived at San Francisco, on 2 July. Assigned to Commander, Western Sea Frontier, Van Buren was fitted out as a weather ship and served in that capacity through the end of hostilities with Japan and into the year 1946. Departing San Francisco, on 13 March 1946, Van Buren transited the Panama Canal, and arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, on 3 April. Decommissioned there on 6 May 1946, Van Buren was struck from the Navy List on 19 June 1946, and sold soon thereafter to the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Chester, Pennsylvania, for scrapping. Awards Van Buren received three battle stars for World War II service. References Bibliography External links hazegray.org: USS Van Buren Tacoma-class frigates World War II patrol vessels of the United States Ships built in Los Angeles 1943 ships Weather ships