USS Thach (FFG-43)

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Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	6 March 1981
Launched:	18 December 1982
Commissioned:	17 March 1983
Status:	Active in service as of 2006.
Homeport:	San Diego, California
General Characteristics
Displacement:	4,100 tons (4,170 t) full load
Length:	453 ft (138.1 m), overall
Beam:	45 ft (13.7 m)
Draft:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion:	2 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines generating 41,000 shp (31 MW) through a single shaft and controllable-pitch propeller
Speed:	29+ knots (54+ km/h)
Range:	5,000 nm (9,300 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement:	15 officers and 190 enlisted, plus SH-60 LAMPS detachment of roughly six officer pilots and 15 enlisted maintainers
Armament:	One OTO Melara Mk 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun; two Mk 32 triple-tube (324 mm) launchers for Mark 46 torpedoes; one Vulcan Phalanx CIWS; four .50-cal (12.7 mm) machine guns.
Aircraft:	2 × SH-60 LAMPS III helicopters
Motto:	Ready and Able

USS Thach (FFG-43), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is a ship of the United States Navy named for Admiral John Thach (1905–1981), a naval aviator during World War II, who invented the Thach Weave dog fighting tactic.

Thach was laid down on 6 March 1981 by the Todd Pacific Shipyards Co., Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, Ca.; launched on 18 December 1982; and commissioned on 17 March 1983.

Thach mission is to provide anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine protection for carrier battle groups, naval expeditionary forces, replenishment groups, convoys, and other military and merchant shipping. The new direction for the naval service remains focused on the ability to project power from the sea in the critical littoral regions for the world.

Success in the warfare environment of the 1990s and beyond will require thorough evaluation, rapid decision-making and almost instantaneous response to any postulated threat. The systems aboard Thach have been designed to meet these demanding and dynamic prerequisites, and to do so with minimum human interface. The LAMPS MK III video data link system brings state-of-the-art computer technology to the warfare arena, as well as integrating sensors and weapons to provide a total offensive and defensive weapons system.

In addition, computers control and monitor the gas turbine engines (the same engines installed on DC-10 aircraft) and electrical generators. Digital electronic logic circuits and remotely-operated valves are monitored in Central Control Station which initiate engine start and result in a "ready to go" status in less than ten minutes.

The heart of the ship, though, is the crew. High technology systems demand skilled technicians and professional leadership to be effective. The concept of "minimum manning" means, simply, that with professional sailors, Thach can meet the challenges of modern naval warfare with approximately half the crew found on other ships comparable size and capability.

As of 2006, Thach is captained by Commander Stephen R. Rasmussen; homeported at San Diego, California; and is part of Destroyer Squadron 7.