From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol. IV, p 141


Lorain

A city and county in northern Ohio.


(PF-93: dp 1,264; 1. 303'11'' ; b. 67'6'' ; dr. 13'8'' ; s. 20 k; cpl. 176; a. 2 3'', 4 40 mm., 4 20 mm., 2 det., 8 dcp.(hh.) ; cl. Tacoma ; T. S2-S2-AQ1)

Lorain (PF-93) was authorized as Roanoke (PG-201) ; reclassified PF-93 on 15 April 1943; and laid down as Roanoke (PF-93) under a Maritime Commission contract by American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio, 25 October 1943. She was renamed Lorain 7 February 1944 ; launched 18 March 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs. Fred Henderson ; and commissioned at Baltimore, Md., 15 January 1945, Lt. Comdr. James 0. Ramsey, Jr., USCGR, in command.

Lorain departed Baltimore 28 January 1945 for Norfolk and Bermuda, where the Coast Guard-manned frigate underwent shakedown and training. After further training in Casco Bay, Maine, she sailed 11 April for Argentia. Newfoundland, her base for weather patrols through the following summer. Operating out of Argentia and later Reykjavik, Iceland, she ranged the North Atlantic from the coastal waters of Greenland to waters north of the Azores, reporting vital meteorological data.

Lorain returned to Boston 14 September, conducted a weather patrol off New England in late October. then sailed 2 December for duty in the Caribbean. An escort run took her to Recife, Brazil. early in 1946, and after two weather patrols east of Bermuda, she returned to Boston 7 March and decommissioned there 14 March 1946. She was sold 26 March 1947 to the French Navy and commissioned on the same day as La Place (F-13). Disarmed a year later she served as weather observation ship in the North Atlantic until sunk by a mine 16 September 1950.