Knox-class Frigate

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 	
USS Roark 	FF-1053 	Todd, Seattle 	1969–1991 	Scrapped 	
USS Gray 	FF-1054 	Todd, Seattle 	1970–1991 	Scrapped 	
USS Hepburn 	FF-1055 	Todd, San Pedro 	1969–1991 	Sunk as target 	
USS Connole 	FF-1056 	Avondale Shipyard 	1969–1992 	To Greece, renamed HS Ipirus (F-456) 	
USS Rathburne 	FF-1057 	Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company	1970–1992 	To Mexico, renamed ARM Gildardo Magaña (F-217) 	
USS Meyerkord 	FF-1058 	Todd, San Pedro 	1969–1991 	Scrapped 	
USS W. S. Sims 	FF-1059 	Avondale 	1970–1991 	Grant aid to Turkey as spare parts hulk 	
USS Lang 	FF-1060 	Todd, San Pedro 	1970–1991 	Scrapped 	
USS Patterson 	FF-1061 	Avondale 	1970–1991 	Scrapped 	
USS Whipple 	FF-1062 	Todd, Seattle 	1970–1992 	To Mexico, renamed ARM Almirante Francisco Javier Mina (F-214)	
USS Reasoner 	FF-1063 	Lockheed 	1971–1993 	To Turkey, renamed TCG Kocatepe (F-252) 	
USS Lockwood 	FF-1064 	Todd, Seattle 	1970–1993 	To Mexico, renamed ARM Miguel Zugastegui (F-216) 	
USS Stein 	FF-1065 	Lockheed 	1972–1992 	To Mexico, renamed ARM Ignacio Allende (F-211) 	
USS Marvin Shields 	FF-1066 	Todd, Seattle 	1971–1992 	To Mexico, renamed ARM Mariano Abasolo (F-212) 	
USS Francis Hammond 	FF-1067 	Todd, San Pedro 	1971–1992 	Scrapped 	
USS Vreeland 	FF-1068 	Avondale 	1970–1992 	To Greece, renamed HS Makedonia (F-458) 	
USS Bagley 	FF-1069 	Lockheed 	1972–1991 	Scrapped 	
USS Downes 	FF-1070 	Todd, Seattle 	1971–1992 	To Mexico, renamed ARM Vicente Guerrero (F-215) 	
USS Badger 	FF-1071 	Todd, San Pedro 	1970–1991 	To Mexico, renamed ARM Rubén Jaramillo (F-218) 	
USS Blakely 	FF-1072 	Avondale 	1970–1991 	Scrapped 	
USS Robert E. Peary 	FF-1073 	Lockheed 	1972–1992 	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Chih Yang (FF-932) 	
USS Harold E. Holt 	FF-1074 	Todd, San Pedro 	1971–1992 	Sunk as target 	
USS Trippe 	FF-1075 	Avondale 	1970–1992 	To Greece, renamed HS Thraki (F-457) 	
USS Fanning 	FF-1076 	Todd, San Pedro 	1971–1993 	To Turkey, renamed TCG Adatepe (F-251) 	
USS Ouellet 	FF-1077 	Avondale 	1970–1993 	To Thailand, renamed HTMS Phutthaloetla Naphalai (FFG=462) 	
USS Joseph Hewes 	FF-1078 	Avondale 	1971–1994 	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Lan Yang (FF-935) 	
USS Bowen 	FF-1079 	Avondale 	1971–1994 	To Turkey, renamed TCG Akdeniz (F-257) 	
USS Paul 	FF-1080 	Avondale 	1971–1992 	To Turkey as spare parts hulk 	
USS Aylwin 	FF-1081 	Avondale 	1971–1992 	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Ning Yang (FF-938) 	
USS Elmer Montgomery	FF-1082 	Avondale 	1971–1993 	To Turkey as spare parts hulk 	
USS Cook 	FF-1083 	Avondale 	1971–1992 	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Hae Yang (FF-936) 	
USS McCandless 	FF-1084 	Avondale 	1972–1994 	To Turkey, renamed TCG Trakya (F-257) 	
USS Donald B. Beary 	FF-1085 	Avondale 	1972–1994 	To Turkey, renamed TCG Karadeniz (F-255) 	
USS Brewton 	FF-1086 	Avondale 	1972–1992 	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Fong Yang (FF-933) 	
USS Kirk 	FF-1087 	Avondale 	1972–1993 	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Fen Yang (FF-934) 	
USS Barbey 	FF-1088 	Avondale 	1972–1992 	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Hwai Yang (FF-937) 	
USS Jesse L. Brown 	FF-1089 	Avondale 	1973–1994 	To Egypt, renamed Dumyat (F961) 	
USS Ainsworth 	FF-1090 	Avondale 	1973–1994 	To Turkey, renamed TCG Ege (F-256) 	
USS Miller 	FF-1091 	Avondale 	1973–1991 	To Turkey as spare parts hulk 	
USS Thomas C. Hart 	FF-1092 	Avondale 	1973–1993 	To Turkey, renamed TCG Zafer (F-253) 	
USS Capodanno 	FF-1093 	Avondale 	1973–1993 	To Turkey, renamed TCG Muavenet (F-250) 	
USS Pharris 	FF-1094 	Avondale 	1974–1992 	To Mexico, renamed ARM Guadalupe Victoria (F-213) 	
USS Truett 	FF-1095 	Avondale 	1974–1994 	To Thailand, renamed HTMS Phutthayotfa Chulalok (FFG-461)]] 	
USS Valdez 	FF-1096 	Avondale 	1974–1991 	To Taiwan, renamed ROCS Ki Yang (FF-939) 	
USS Moinester 	FF-1097 	Avondale 	1974–1994 	To Egypt, renamed Rasheed (F.962) 	
Category:Egyptian Navy
Category:Frigates
Category:Hellenic Navy
Category:Iranian Navy
Category:Mexican Navy
Category:Republic of China Navy
Category:Royal Thai Navy
Category:Ship Classes
Category:Ships
Category:Turkish Navy
Category:United States
Category:United States Navy