On 2 August 1944, Rockford moored in Milne Bay, New Guinea, and then operated on convoy escort duty and antisubmarine patrol off the New Guinea coast until 23 September 1944, when she made a brief run to Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands.
Rockford then returned to New Guinea, remaining there until 15 October 1944, when she began a voyage to the United States West Coast via Manus Island and Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii. On 13 November 1944, during the final leg of the voyage, Rockford and the minesweeperUSS Ardent (AM-340) attacked and sank the Japanese submarineI-12 midway between Hawaii and California; there were no survivors from I-12. In sinking I-12, Rockford and Ardent unwittingly had avenged the crew of the Liberty Ship SS John A. Johnson; on 30 October 1944, after sinking John A. Johnson, I-12 had rammed and sunk her lifeboats and rafts and then machine-gunned her 70 survivors, killing 10.
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 in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan – Rockford began training her new Soviet crew at Cold Bay in August 1945.[5]
In February 1946, the United States began negotiations for the return of ships loaned to the Soviet Union for use during World War II. On 8 May 1947, United States Secretary of the NavyJames V. Forrestal informed the United States Department of State that the United States Department of the Navy wanted 480 of the 585 combatant ships it had transferred to the Soviet Union for World War II use returned, EK-18 among them. Negotiations for the return of the ships were protracted, but on 1 November 1949 the Soviet Union finally returned EK-18 to the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka, Japan.[6]
Reverting to her original name, Rockford lay idle in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Yokosuka until the United States loaned her to the Republic of Korea on 23 October 1950 for Korean War service in enforcing the United Nationsblockade against North Korea and harassing enemy forces. She served the Republic of Korea Navy as ROKS Apnok (62). On 21 May 1952, she was escorting the U.S. Navy ammunition shipUSS Mount Baker (AE-4) when Mount Baker struck her amidships, killing 25 and injuring 21 of Apnok's crew. The collision damaged Apnok beyond economical repair.[7][8]South Korea returned her to the U.S. Navy on 3 September 1952 for disposal.
Disposal
Reverting to her original name and assigned a status of "inactive out of commission in reserve" by the U.S. Navy, Rockford was struck from the Navy list on 26 May 1953 and sunk as a torpedotarget on 30 September 1953.
Awards
The U.S. Navy awarded Rockford two battle stars for her World War II service.
^ abNavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Rockford (PF 48) ex-PG-156 states that the U.S. Navy decommissioned Rockford on 27 August 1945, but Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the United States transferred Rockford on 26 August 1945 and, according to Russell, the U.S. Navy decommissioned Project Hula ships simultaneously with their transfer to the Soviet Navy; see photo captions on p. 24 regarding the transfers of various large infantry landing craft (LCI(L)s) and information on p. 27 about the transfer of USS Coronado (PF-38), which Russell says typified the transfer process. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
^ abcThe Dictionary of American Naval Fighting ShipsRockford article states that Rockford was transferred on 27 August 1945 and NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Rockford (PF 48) ex-PG-156 repeats this. However, Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the transfer date was 26 August 1945. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
^ abThe Dictionary of American Naval Fighting ShipsRockford article states that Rockford was named EK-20 in Soviet service and NavSource Online: Frigate Photo Archive Rockford (PF 48) ex-PG-156 repeats this, but Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, reports that the ship's Soviet name was EK-18. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
^ abAccording to Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, which includes access to Soviet-era records unavailable during the Cold War, Project Hula ships were commissioned into the Soviet Navy simultaneously with their transfer from the U.S. Navy; see photo captions on p. 24 regarding the transfers of various large infantry landing craft (LCI(L)s) and information on p. 27 about the transfer of USS Coronado (PF-38), which Russell says typified the transfer process. As sources, Russell cites Department of the Navy, Ships Data: U.S. Naval Vessels Volume II, 1 January 1949, (NAVSHIPS 250-012), Washington, DC: Bureau of Ships, 1949; and Berezhnoi, S. S., Flot SSSR: Korabli i suda lendliza: Spravochnik ("The Soviet Navy: Lend-Lease Ships and Vessels: A Reference"), St. Petersburg, Russia: Belen, 1994.
^ abRussell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, p. 39.
^Russell, Richard A., Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN0-945274-35-1, pp. 37–38, 39.
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