Knox-class Frigate

The Knox-class frigates USS Knox (FF-1052), USS Lockwood (FF-1064), USS Francis Hammond (FF-1067) and USS Kirk (FF-1087) sailing with the Charles F. Adams-class DDG USS Towers (DDG-09) in the Indian Ocean as part of the USS Midway (CV-41) battlegroup on October 1^st, 1987

The Knox-class frigates were United States Navy warships, originally laid down as ocean escorts (formerly called destroyer escorts), but were all redesignated as frigates on June 30, 1975 in the USN 1975 ship reclassification and their hull designation changed from DE to FF.

A sub-class of the Knox-class was built, commonly referred to as the Hewes-class. The primary differences were slightly different arrangement of the "Officer's Country" staterooms with additional staterooms in the 01 level instead of the open deck between the boat decks. The stateroom on the port side under the bridge was designated as a "flag" stateroom, with the additional staterooms for flag staff when serving as a flagship.

Specifications

• Type: Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigate (Hull designation symbol FF)
• Service Period: 1969-1994
• Characteristics
  • Length: 438 feet (133.5 meters)
  • Beam: 46 feet 9 inches (14.25 meters)
  • Draft: 24 feet 9 inches (7.54 meters)
  • Displacement: 4,260 tons (Full Load)
• Crew: 257 (17 officers and 240 enlisted)
• Propulsion: 1 shaft, one Westinghouse steam turbine, 2 V2M boilers. total 35,000 shp (maximum)
• Range: 4,500 nautical miles (8,334 kilometers) at 20 knots (37.04 km/h)
• Speed: 27 knots (50km/h)
• Sensor Suite:
  • AN/SPS-40 Air Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-10 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-67 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SPG-53 Fire Control Radar
  • AN/SQS-26 Hull Sonar
  • AN/SQS-35 Towed Array Sonar - replaced by AN/SQR-18
• Armament
  • 1 x Mark 42 5"/54-caliber naval gun
  • 1 x 8-cell Mk.25 Sea Sparrow Missile Launcher
  • 1 x 8-cell Mk.112 Box Launcher (fires RUR-5 ASROC and RGM-84 Harpoon)
  • 2 x Mk.32 triple fire torpedo tubes (fires Mk.44 and Mk.46 torpedoes)
  • 1 x 20mm Vulcan Phalanx CIWS
• Aircraft Carried: 1 x Kaman SH-2 Sea Sprite

History

The 46 ships of the Knox-class were the largest, last and most numerous of the US Navy’s second-generation ASW escorts. The lead ship of the class was the USS Knox (FF-1052), laid down 5 October 1965 and commissioned 12 April 1969, at Todd Shipyards in Seattle. Planned as the follow-on to the twin 5-inch gun armed Garcia-class frigates and the Tartar missile-equipped Brooke-class frigates, their initial design incorporated the prior classes’ pressure-fired boilers (the design later was changed to conventional 1,200 psi (8,300 kPa) boilers) in a similar-sized hull designed around the massive bow-mounted AN/SQS-26 sonar.

Ten ships were authorized in FY 1964, sixteen in 1965 and ten each for FYs 1966, ’67 and ’68; six were canceled in 1968 and four more in 1969. They were built in four different shipyards and were originally commissioned as destroyer escorts (DEs) 1052–1097 in 1969–1974, they were redesignated as frigates (FF) on 30 June 1975.

In February 1972, after encountering a severe Nor'Easter off Cape Hatteras, the USS Trippe (FF-1075) suffered major damage to its ASROC missile launcher, which was ripped off its mounts. The Bureau of Ships ordered all of the Knox-class to have a retrofit "hurricane bow" which heighted the bow section to prevent burrowing into on-coming seas and to protect the forecastle armament.

The Knox-class was the Navy’s last destroyer-type design with a steam power plant.

Due to their unequal comparison to destroyers then in service (large size with low speed and a single screw and 5 inch gun), they became known to a generation of destroyermen as “McNamara’s Folly.”

These ships were retired from the US Navy at the end of the Cold War due to a declining need for an advanced ASW capability. By 1994 all ships of this class had been retired from the US Navy, although some remain in service with foreign nations such as Egypt, Iran, Mexico, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Unit Run

Ship Name	Hull No.	Builder	Commission– Decommission	Fate	Link
USS Knox	FF-1052	Todd Shipyards, Seattle	1969–1992	Museum ship in Vallejo, California	[1]
USS Roark	FF-1053	Todd, Seattle	1969–1991	Scrapped	[2]
USS Gray	FF-1054	Todd, Seattle	1970–1991	Scrapped	[3]
USS Hepburn	FF-1055	Todd, San Pedro	1969–1991	Sunk as target	[4]
USS Connole	FF-1056	Avondale Shipyard	1969–1992	To Greece, renamed HS Ipirus (F-456)	[5]
USS Rathburne	FF-1057	Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company	1970–1992	To Mexico, renamed ARM Gildardo Magaña (F-217)	[6]
USS Meyerkord	FF-1058	Todd, San Pedro	1969–1991	Scrapped	[7]
USS W. S. Sims	FF-1059	Avondale	1970–1991	Grant aid to Turkey as spare parts hulk	[8]
USS Lang	FF-1060	Todd, San Pedro	1970–1991	Scrapped	[9]
USS Patterson	FF-1061	Avondale	1970–1991	Scrapped	[10]
USS Whipple	FF-1062	Todd, Seattle	1970–1992	To Mexico, renamed ARM Almirante Francisco Javier Mina (F-214)	[11]
USS Reasoner	FF-1063	Lockheed	1971–1993	To Turkey, renamed TCG Kocatepe (F-252)	[12]
USS Lockwood	FF-1064	Todd, Seattle	1970–1993	To Mexico, renamed ARM Miguel Zugastegui (F-216)	[13]
USS Stein	FF-1065	Lockheed	1972–1992	To Mexico, renamed ARM Ignacio Allende (F-211)	[14]
USS Marvin Shields	FF-1066	Todd, Seattle	1971–1992	To Mexico, renamed ARM Mariano Abasolo (F-212)	[15]
USS Francis Hammond	FF-1067	Todd, San Pedro	1971–1992	Scrapped	[16]
USS Vreeland	FF-1068	Avondale	1970–1992	To Greece, renamed HS Makedonia (F-458)	[17]
USS Bagley	FF-1069	Lockheed	1972–1991	Scrapped	[18]
USS Downes	FF-1070	Todd, Seattle	1971–1992	To Mexico, renamed ARM Vicente Guerrero (F-215)	[19]
USS Badger	FF-1071	Todd, San Pedro	1970–1991	To Mexico, renamed ARM Rubén Jaramillo (F-218)	[20]
USS Blakely	FF-1072	Avondale	1970–1991	Scrapped	[21]
USS Robert E. Peary	FF-1073	Lockheed	1972–1992	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Chih Yang (FF-932)	[22]
USS Harold E. Holt	FF-1074	Todd, San Pedro	1971–1992	Sunk as target	[23]
USS Trippe	FF-1075	Avondale	1970–1992	To Greece, renamed HS Thraki (F-457)	[24]
USS Fanning	FF-1076	Todd, San Pedro	1971–1993	To Turkey, renamed TCG Adatepe (F-251)	[25]
USS Ouellet	FF-1077	Avondale	1970–1993	To Thailand, renamed HTMS Phutthaloetla Naphalai (FFG=462)	[26]
USS Joseph Hewes	FF-1078	Avondale	1971–1994	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Lan Yang (FF-935)	[27]
USS Bowen	FF-1079	Avondale	1971–1994	To Turkey, renamed TCG Akdeniz (F-257)	[28]
USS Paul	FF-1080	Avondale	1971–1992	To Turkey as spare parts hulk	[29]
USS Aylwin	FF-1081	Avondale	1971–1992	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Ning Yang (FF-938)	[30]
USS Elmer Montgomery	FF-1082	Avondale	1971–1993	To Turkey as spare parts hulk	[31]
USS Cook	FF-1083	Avondale	1971–1992	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Hae Yang (FF-936)	[32]
USS McCandless	FF-1084	Avondale	1972–1994	To Turkey, renamed TCG Trakya (F-257)	[33]
USS Donald B. Beary	FF-1085	Avondale	1972–1994	To Turkey, renamed TCG Karadeniz (F-255)	[34]
USS Brewton	FF-1086	Avondale	1972–1992	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Fong Yang (FF-933)	[35]
USS Kirk	FF-1087	Avondale	1972–1993	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Fen Yang (FF-934)	[36]
USS Barbey	FF-1088	Avondale	1972–1992	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Hwai Yang (FF-937)	[37]
USS Jesse L. Brown	FF-1089	Avondale	1973–1994	To Egypt, renamed Dumyat (F961)	[38]
USS Ainsworth	FF-1090	Avondale	1973–1994	To Turkey, renamed TCG Ege (F-256)	[39]
USS Miller	FF-1091	Avondale	1973–1991	To Turkey as spare parts hulk	[40]
USS Thomas C. Hart	FF-1092	Avondale	1973–1993	To Turkey, renamed TCG Zafer (F-253)	[41]
USS Capodanno	FF-1093	Avondale	1973–1993	To Turkey, renamed TCG Muavenet (F-250)	[42]
USS Pharris	FF-1094	Avondale	1974–1992	To Mexico, renamed ARM Guadalupe Victoria (F-213)	[43]
USS Truett	FF-1095	Avondale	1974–1994	To Thailand, renamed HTMS Phutthayotfa Chulalok (FFG-461)]]	[44]
USS Valdez	FF-1096	Avondale	1974–1991	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Ki Yang (FF-939)	[45]
USS Moinester	FF-1097	Avondale	1974–1994	To Egypt, renamed Rasheed (F.962)	[46]