USS Groton (PF-29)

Groton (PF-29), formerly PG-137, was launched under Maritime Commission contract by Walter Butler Shipbuilding Co., Inc., Superior, Wis., 14 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Percy Palmer; and commissioned 5 September 1944, Lt. P. L. Chase, USCGR, in command.

After shakedown training off Bermuda. Groton reported for Atlantic duty 30 October 1944. She departed for her first duty station 2 November, arriving in Argentia, Newfoundland, 3 days later. The ship sailed 6 November for her weather station in the north Atlantic, sending important reports to allied weather stations and helping to guide wartime traffic safely to Europe. Groton remained on this duty, based at Argentia, until sailing for Boston 7 February 1945. She had but a short respite, and was back on her weather station 10 days later.

Groton performed weather picket duty in the Atlantic until 15 November 1945 when she returned to Boston for transfer to the Coast Guard. The ship simultaneously decommissioned and commissioned in the Coast Guard 13 March 1946. Serving the Coast Guard on loan, Groton again was assigned to weather duty off Argentia until decommissioning 25 September at New Orleans, La.

After being moved to Lake Charles, La., in November, Groton returned to New Orleans in January 1947. Turned over to the State Department for disposal, she was sold to the Government of Colombia 26 March 1947, where she now serves as Almirante Padilla.

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Groton I (PF-29)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.