USS Saint Augustine, a 1720-ton gunboat, was built at Newport News, Virginia, in 1929 as the yacht Viking. Later renamed Noparo, she was purchased by the Navy in December 1940 and converted to a warship at Boston, Massachusetts. Following commissioning in January 1941, St. Augustine performed patrol duties out of Boston. In 1942 she was assigned to convoy escort service between New York City and the Caribbean area. While so employed on 6 January 1944 she collided with the merchant ship Camas Meadows and quickly sank. Nearly four-fifths of her crew lost their lives in this tragic accident.