USS St. Augustine

File:USS St. Augustine off the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 27 May 1941 - 19-N-24213.jpg USS St. Augustine
History
United States
Name	USS St. Augustine
Namesake	St. Augustine, Florida
Builder	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, VA
Cost	$1,250,000
Acquired	5 December 1940
Commissioned	16 January 1941
Fate	Sunk in collision 6 January 1944
General characteristics
Type	Gunboat
Displacement	1,720 long tons (1,748 t) (full)
Length	272 ft 2 in (82.96 m)
Beam	36 ft (11 m)
Draft	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion	Turbo-electric 2 × shafts
Speed	14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Complement	185
Armament	2 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns

USS St. Augustine (PG-54) was built in 1929 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. in Newport News, Virginia. She was originally a steel-hulled yacht named Viking and later named Noparo. She was purchased by the US Navy on 5 December 1940 and was sent to Bethlehem Steel Corp. in Boston, Massachusetts where she was converted into a patrol gunboat. She was named St. Augustine on 9 January 1941 and commissioned as USS St. Augustine on 16 January 1941. St. Augustine was assigned to the 1st Naval District and operated out of Boston as a patrol ship until 1942. She was transferred to the Eastern Sea Frontier where she escorted convoys between New York City and various Caribbean ports. On the night of 6 January 1944, while leading a convoy from New York to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, St. Augustine was accidentally rammed by merchant tanker Camas Meadows off the coast of Cape May, New Jersey. St. Augustine foundered within five minutes, and 115 of the 145 crewmembers on board were killed.