USS Orange ( PF - 43 ) USS " Orange " ( PF - 43 ) , a , was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Orange , Texas . " Orange " ( PF - 43 ) was originally authorized as PG - 151 ; reclassified PF – 43 on 15 April 1943 ; laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corporation , Wilmington Yard , Los Angeles , California on 7 July 1943 ; launched 6 August 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . Rufus S . Manley of Orange , Texas ; commissioned 1 January 1944 . Service history . After shakedown , " Orange " began her tour of Pacific duty as a fire support and anti - submarine vessel . On 2 June 1944 , only five months after commissioning , she participated in her initial engagement at New Guinea . At one stage of the action she closed to within of a beach west of the Tor River to shell enemy installations , with the aid of an Army spotter . Three days later , " Orange " , with an Army liaison officer on board , shelled supply dumps located along a road between Arami Village and the mouth of the Orai River . A field of floating wreckage hampered her progress as she again closed the shoreline , but she carried our her mission leaving many fires burning in the target area . Between fire support missions , " Orange " conducted antisubmarine patrols to protect the heavy flow of supply shipping which supported the landings . On 27 July , while conducting such a patrol , she was directed to embark three Army officers for a scouting party which had been operating behind enemy lines near Sarmi Point . Through radio contact it was learned that the scouting team had encountered a number of Japanese , patrols and that they might have difficulty in getting out . The frigate groped its way around the point , and with all guns manned , closed the shore and dispatched a motor launch with a landing party . Directed with the assistance of an observation plane , the launch moved in and was met by a rubber raft containing the scout group and two Japanese captives . The captives were forward members of one of the enemy patrols . On 6 September , " Orange " proceeded to Napido for a scheduled assault landing there . At dawn on the 7th she engaged in shore bombardment to soften the landing area . By the first of December " Orange " was at Leyte with an ASW screening unit escorting which had a damaged vessel in tow . As the unit was transiting Surigao Strait on 5 December it came under attack by a lone Japanese plane which was repelled by " Orange " ' s fire . On the 6th , she kept several more enemy planes at bay by detecting them early and putting up a stream of fire that made their pilots decide to seek an easier target . " Orange " carried out similar missions until February 1945 when she returned to the U . S . for availability at Mare Island Navy Yard . She was then assigned to the West Coast Sound School and was participating in training exercises when the war ended . On 1 December 1945 , " Orange " went back into the yards and had her guns replaced by an intricate array of meteorological equipment . Thus fitted out , " Orange " reported to Commander Hawaiian Sea Frontier for duty as a weather station vessel off Pearl Harbor . She served in this capacity until she decommissioned 28 October 1946 at Bremerton , Washington . Struck from the U . S . Naval Register on 23 April 1947 , " Orange " was sold 17 September 1947 to the Alaska Junk Co . , of Seattle , Washington , and scrapped in May 1948 . " Orange " earned two battle star s for service in World War II .