USS Albuquerque (PG-115/PF-7), a patrol frigate in commission from 1943 to 1945 and from 1950 to 1953, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Albuquerque, New Mexico. She also served in the Soviet Navy as EK-14 and in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as JDS Tochi (PF-16/PF-296) and as YAC-15. Construction and commissioning Albuquerque, originally classified as a patrol gunboat, PG-115, but reclassified as a patrol frigate, PF-7, on 15 April 1943, was laid down under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 1425, on 20 July 1943, at the Permanente Metals Richmond Shipyard #4, Richmond, California. Launched on 14 September 1943, sponsored by Mrs. B. L. Livingstone, the ship was commissioned on 20 December 1943. Service history U.S. Navy, World War II, 1943–1945 After fitting out and shakedown training, Albuquerque stood out from Treasure Island, California, on 24 March 1944, bound for Seattle, Washington. She arrived at Seattle, on 26 March 1944, and remained there until getting underway on 5 April 1944, as an escort for a convoy bound for the Territory of Alaska. She and her convoy arrived at Dutch Harbor, on Unalaska Island, in the Aleutian Islands, on 16 April 1944, where she was assigned to Escort Division 27. After the Liberty ship , operating as a cargo ship for the United States Army, either struck a mine or was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine and broke in two in the Pacific Ocean at , approximately southeast of Sanak Island in the Fox Islands subgroup of the Aleutian Islands on 19 April 1944 and her bow section sank, Albuquerque scuttled her stern section. For the rest of 1944 and the first half of 1945, Albuquerque shepherded convoys between various Alaskan ports and conducted patrols around the Aleutian Islands and in the Bering Sea. Between 5 June and 14 July 1945, Albuquerque made a round-trip voyage from Dutch Harbor to Seattle and back. Selected for transfer to the Soviet Navy in Project Hula – a secret program for the transfer of U.S. Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay, Alaska, in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan – she then proceeded to Cold Bay and began training her new Soviet crew. Soviet Navy, 1945–1949 Following the completion of training for her Soviet crew, Albuquerque was decommissioned on 16 August 1945, at Cold Bay, and