USS Oliver Hazard Perry (FFG 7) underway in the Great Lakes |
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Class overview | |
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Name: | Oliver Hazard Perry |
Builders: | Bath Iron Works Todd Pacific Shipyards San Pedro Todd Pacific Shipyards Seattle Australian Marine Engineering Consolidated Bazan China Shipbuilding |
Operators: | United States Navy Royal Australian Navy Armada Española Republic of China Navy Pakistan Navy Royal Bahrain Naval Force Egyptian Navy Polish Navy Turkish Navy |
Preceded by: | Brooke-class frigate |
Succeeded by: | Freedom-class littoral combat ship Independence-class littoral combat ship |
Subclasses: | Adelaide-class (Australia) Santa María-class (Spain) Cheng Kung-class (Taiwan) |
Built: | 1975 – 2004 |
In commission: | 1977 – Present |
Completed: | 71 |
General characteristics | |
Type: | Frigate |
Displacement: | 4,100 long tons (4,200 t) full load |
Length: | 408 ft (124 m) waterline, 445 ft (136 m) overall, 453 ft (138 m) for "long-hull" frigates |
Beam: | 45 ft (14 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 variable pitch propeller 2 × Auxiliary Propulsion Units, 350 hp (260 kW) retractable electric azipods for maneuvering and docking. |
Speed: | over 29 knots (54 km/h) |
Range: | 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Complement: | 176 |
Sensors and processing systems: |
Radar: AN/SPS-49, AN/SPS-55, Mk 92 fire control system Sonar: SQS-56, SQR-19 Towed Array |
Electronic warfare and decoys: |
SLQ-32(V)2, Flight III with sidekick, Mark 36 SRBOC AN/SLQ-25 Nixie |
Armament: | One single-arm Mk 13 Missile Launcher with a 40-missile magazine that contains SM-1MR anti-aircraft guided missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Removed from the U.S. Navy ships starting in 2003, due to the retirement of the SM-1 missile from American service Two triple Mark 32 Anti-submarine warfare torpedo tubes with Mark 46 or Mark 50 anti-submarine warfare torpedoes One OTO Melara 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun One 20 mm Phalanx CIWS rapid-fire cannon Eight Hsiung Feng II SSM or four HF-2 and 4 HF-3 supersonic AShM, plus 2 Bofors 40mm/L70 guns on Taiwanese vessels only) |
Aircraft carried: | Two LAMPS multi-purpose helicopters (the SH-2 Seasprite LAMPS I on the short-hulled ships or the SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III on the long-hulled ships) |
The Oliver Hazard Perry class is a class of frigates named after the American Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the naval Battle of Lake Erie. Also known as the Perry or FFG-7 class, the warships were designed in the United States in the mid-1970s as general-purpose escort vessels inexpensive enough to be bought in large quantities to replace World War II-era destroyers and 1960s-era Knox (FF-1052) class frigates. Intended to protect amphibious landing forces, supply and replenishment groups, and merchant convoys from submarines, they also later were part of battleship-centric surface action groups and aircraft carrier battle groups/strike groups.[1] Fifty-five ships were built in the United States: 51 for the United States Navy and four for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). In addition, eight were built in the Republic of China (Taiwan), six in Spain, and two in Australia for their navies. Former U.S. Navy warships of this class have been sold or donated to the navies of Bahrain, Egypt, Poland, Pakistan, and Turkey.
Contents |
The ships were designed by the Bath Iron Works shipyard in Maine in partnership with the New York-based naval architects Gibbs & Cox.
The Oliver Hazard Perry-class ships were produced in 445-foot (136 meter) long "short-hull" (Flight I) and 453-foot (138 meter) long "long-hull" (Flight III) variants. The long-hull ships (FFG 8, 28, 29, 32, 33, and 36-61) carry the larger SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters, while the short-hulled warships carry the smaller and less-capable SH-2 Seasprite LAMPS I. Aside from the lengths of their hulls, the principal difference between the versions is the location of the aft capstan: on long-hull ships, it sits a step below the level of the flight deck in order to provide clearance for the tail rotor of the longer Seahawk helicopters. The long-hull ships also carry the RAST (Recovery Assist Securing and Traversing) system for the Seahawk, a hook, cable, and winch system that can reel in a Seahawk from a hovering flight, expanding the ship's pitch-and-roll range in which flight operations are permitted. The FFG 8, 29, 32, and 33 were built as "short-hull" warships but were later modified into "long-hull" warships.
American shipyards constructed Oliver Hazard Perry-class ships for the U.S. Navy and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Early American-built Australian ships were originally built as the "short-hull" version, but they were modified during the 1980s to the "long-hull" design. Shipyards in Australia, Spain, and the Republic of China have produced several warships of the "long-hull" design for their navies.
Although the per-ship costs rose greatly over the period of production, all 51 ships planned for the U.S. Navy were built. Some Oliver Hazard Perry-class warships are planned to remain in American service for years, but some of the older ships have been decommissioned and some scrapped. Others of these decommissioned ships have been transferred to the navies of other countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Poland, Pakistan, and Turkey. Several of these have replaced old Second World War-built American destroyers that had been given to those countries.
During the design phase of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, head of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors, R.J. Daniels, was invited by an old friend, US Chief of the Bureau of Ships, Adm Robert C Gooding, to advise upon the use of variable-pitch propellers in the class. During the course of this conversation, Daniels warned Gooding against the use of aluminium in the superstructure of the FFG-7 class as he believed it would lead to structural weaknesses. A number of ships subsequently developed structural cracks, including a 40 ft fissure in USS Duncan, before the problems were remedied.[2]
The Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates were designed primarily as anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare guided-missile warships intended to provide open-ocean escort of amphibious warfare ships and merchant ship convoys in moderate threat environments in a potential war with the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries. They could also provide air defense against 1970s- and 1980s-era aircraft and anti-ship missiles. These warships are equipped to escort and protect aircraft carrier battle groups, amphibious landing groups, underway replenishment groups, and merchant ship convoys. They can conduct independent operations to perform such tasks as surveillance of illegal drug smugglers, maritime interception operations, and exercises with other nations.
The addition of the Naval Tactical Display System, LAMPS helicopters, and the Tactical Towed Array System (TACTAS) gave these warships a combat capability far beyond the original expectations. They are well-suited for the littoral regions and most war-at-sea scenarios.
Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates made worldwide news twice during the 1980s. Despite being small, these frigates were shown to be extremely durable. During the Iran–Iraq War, on 17 May 1987, the USS Stark was attacked by an Iraqi warplane. Struck by two Exocet anti-ship missiles, thirty-seven American sailors died in the deadly prelude to the American Operation Earnest Will, the reflagging and escorting of oil tankers through the Persian Gulf and the Straits of Hormuz. Less than a year later, on 14 April 1988, the Samuel B. Roberts was nearly sunk by an Iranian mine. No lives were lost, but 10 sailors were evacuated from the warship for medical treatment. The Roberts crew battled fire and flooding for 2 days, ultimately managing to save the ship. The U.S. Navy retaliated four days later with Operation Praying Mantis, a one-day attack on Iranian oil platforms being used as bases for raids on merchant shipping. Those had included bases for the minelaying operations that damaged the Samuel B. Roberts. Both frigates were repaired in American shipyards and returned to full service. The USS Stark was decommissioned in 1999, and scrapped in 2006.
The U.S. Navy is modifying its remaining Perrys to reduce their operating costs, replacing Detroit Diesel Company 16V149TI electrical generators with Caterpillar, Inc.-made diesel engines.
In mid-2000, the Navy removed the frigates' Mk 13 single-arm missile launchers and magazines because the primary missile, the Standard SM-1MR, became outmoded.[3]
The "zone-defense" anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) capability has vanished, and all that remains is a "point-defense" type of AAW armament. It would supposedly have been too costly to refit the Standard Missile SM-1MR missiles, which had little ability to bring down sea-skimming missiles. Another reason is to allow more SM-1MRs to go to American allies that operate Perrys, such as Poland, Spain, Australia, Turkey, and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The loss of the launchers also strips the frigates of their Harpoon anti-ship missiles. However, their Seahawk helicopters can carry the much shorter-range Penguin and Hellfire anti-ship missiles.
The last nine ships of the class will have new remotely operated 25-mm Mk 38 Mod 2 Naval Gun Systems installed on platforms over the old MK 13 launcher magazine.
The U.S. Navy plans to update the Oliver Hazard Perry-class warships' Phalanx CIWS to the "Block 1B" capability, which will allow the Mk 15 20 mm Phalanx gun to shoot at fast-moving surface craft and helicopters. The remaining Oliver Hazard Perry-class ships are also to be fitted with the Mk 53 DLS "Nulka" missile decoy system, which will be better than the presently-equipped chaff (SRBOC, Super Rapid Blooming Offboard Chaff) and flares at guarding against anti-ship missiles. The remaining ships will also be outfitted with RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launchers.
On June 16, 2009, Vice Admiral Barry McCullough turned down the suggestion of then-U.S. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) to keep the Perrys in service, citing their worn-out and maxed-out condition.[4] However, U.S. Representative Ander Crenshaw (R-4-FL) and former U.S. Representative Gene Taylor (D-4-MS) took up the cause to retain the vessels.[5][6][7][8]
The Perry-class frigates will eventually be replaced by Littoral Combat Ships
Australia is spending one billion Australian dollars to upgrade Royal Australian Navy (RAN) Adelaide-class guided-missile frigates, including equipping them to fire the SM-2 version of the Standard missile, adding an eight-cell Mk-41 vertical launch system for Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles, and installing better air-search radars and long-range sonar.
The first of the upgraded frigates, HMAS Sydney, returned to the RAN fleet in 2005. Each of the four frigates to be upgraded have the work at the Garden Island shipyard in Sydney, Australia, with the modernizations lasting between 18 months and two years. These frigates are planned to be replaced starting in 2013 by three new Hobart-class air warfare destroyers equipped with the AEGIS combat system. However, the third of those destroyers will not be commissioned until 2017, at the earliest.
The cost will be partly offset, in the short run, by the decommissioning and disposal of the two older frigates. HMAS Canberra was decommissioned on 12 November 2005 at naval base HMAS Stirling in Western Australia and HMAS Adelaide was decommissioned at that same naval base on 20 January 2008.
The Turkish Navy had commenced the modernization of its G class frigates with the GENESIS (Gemi Entegre Savaş İdare Sistemi) combat management system in 2007.[9] The first GENESIS upgraded ship was delivered in 2007, and the last delivery is scheduled for 2011.[10] The "short-hull" Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates that are currently part of the Turkish Navy were modified with the ASIST landing platform system at the Gölcük Naval Shipyard, so that they can accommodate the S-70B Seahawk helicopters. Turkey is planning to add one eight-cell Mk 41 Vertical Launching Systems (VLS) for the Evolved Sea Sparrow missile, to be installed forward of the present Mk 13 missile launchers, similar to the case in the modernization program of the Australian Adelaide class frigates.[11][12][13] F-495 TCG Gediz was the first ship in the class to receive the Mk 41 VLS installation.[14] There are also plans for new components to be installed that are being developed for the Milgem class warships (Ada class corvettes and F-100 class frigates) of the Turkish Navy. These include modern Three-dimensional and X-band radars developed by Aselsan and Turkish-made hull-mounted sonars. One of the G class frigates will also be used as a test-bed for Turkey's 6,000+ ton TF-2000 class anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) frigates that are currently being designed by the Turkish Naval Institute.
On May 11, 2009, the first International Frigate Working Group met in Mayport Naval Station to discuss maintenance, obsolescence and logistics issues regarding Oliver Hazard Perry-class ships of the U.S. and foreign navies.[18]
Ship Name | Hull No. | Builder | Commission– Decommission |
Fate | Link |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
U.S.-built | |||||
Oliver Hazard Perry | FFG-7 | Bath Iron Works | 1977–1997 | Disposed of by scrapping, dismantling, 21 April 2006 | [1] |
McInerney | FFG-8 | Bath Iron Works | 1979–2010 | Transferred to Pakistan as PNS Alamgir (F-260) | [2] |
Wadsworth | FFG-9 | Todd Pacific Shipyards (Todd), San Pedro | 1978–2002 | Transferred to Poland as ORP Gen. T. Kościuszko (273) | [3] |
Duncan | FFG-10 | Todd, Seattle | 1980–1994 | Transferred to Turkey as a parts hulk | [4] |
Clark | FFG-11 | Bath Iron Works | 1980–2000 | Transferred to Poland as ORP Gen. K. Pułaski (272) | [5] |
George Philip | FFG-12 | Todd, San Pedro | 1980–2003 | Stricken, to be disposed of, 24 May 2004. | [6] |
Samuel Eliot Morison | FFG-13 | Bath Iron Works | 1980–2002 | Transferred to Turkey as TCG Gokova (F 496) | [7] |
Sides | FFG-14 | Todd, San Pedro | 1981–2003 | Stricken, to be disposed of, 24 May 2004. | [8] |
Estocin | FFG-15 | Bath Iron Works | 1981–2003 | transferred to Turkey as TCG Goksu (F 497) | [9] |
Clifton Sprague | FFG-16 | Bath Iron Works | 1981–1995 | transferred to Turkey as TCG Gaziantep (F 490) | [10] |
built for Australia as HMAS Adelaide | FFG-17 | Todd, Seattle | 1980–2008 | Decommissioned, sunk as diving & fishing reef, April 2011 | [11] |
built for Australia as HMAS Canberra | FFG-18 | Todd, Seattle | 1981–2005 | Decommissioned, sunk as diving & fishing reef, October 2009 | [12] |
John A. Moore | FFG-19 | Todd, San Pedro | 1981–2000 | transferred to Turkey as TCG Gediz (F 495) | [13] |
Antrim | FFG-20 | Todd, Seattle | 1981–1996 | transferred to Turkey as TCG Giresun (F 491) | [14] |
Flatley | FFG-21 | Bath Iron Works | 1981–1996 | transferred to Turkey as TCG Gemlik (F 492)) | [15] |
Fahrion | FFG-22 | Todd, Seattle | 1982–1998 | transferred to Egypt as Sharm El-Sheik (F 901) | [16] |
Lewis B. Puller | FFG-23 | Todd, San Pedro | 1982–1998 | transferred to Egypt as Toushka (F 906) | [17] |
Jack Williams | FFG-24 | Bath Iron Works | 1981–1996 | transferred to Bahrain as Sabha (90) | [18] |
Copeland | FFG-25 | Todd, San Pedro | 1982–1996 | transferred to Egypt as Mubarak (F 911) | [19] |
Gallery | FFG-26 | Bath Iron Works | 1981–1996 | transferred to Egypt as Taba (F 916) | [20] |
Mahlon S. Tisdale | FFG-27 | Todd, San Pedro | 1982–1996 | transferred to Turkey as TCG Gokceada (F 494) | [21] |
Boone | FFG-28 | Todd, Seattle | 1982- | Naval Reserve Force, Active since 1998 | [22] |
Stephen W. Groves | FFG-29 | Bath Iron Works | 1982- | Naval Reserve Force, Active since 1997 | [23] |
Reid | FFG-30 | Todd, San Pedro | 1983–1998 | transferred to Turkey as TCG Gelibolu (F 493) | [24] |
Stark | FFG-31 | Todd, Seattle | 1982–1999 | Disposed of by scrapping, dismantling, 21 June 2006 | [25] |
John L. Hall | FFG-32 | Bath Iron Works | 1982- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [26] |
Jarrett | FFG-33 | Todd, San Pedro | 1983–2011 | Decommissioned, held for future foreign military sale | [27] |
Aubrey Fitch | FFG-34 | Bath Iron Works | 1982–1997 | Disposed of by scrapping, dismantling, 19 May 2005 | [28] |
built for Australia as HMAS Sydney | FFG-35 | Todd, Seattle | 1983- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [29] |
Underwood | FFG-36 | Bath Iron Works | 1983- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [30] |
Crommelin | FFG-37 | Todd, Seattle | 1983- | Naval Reserve Force, Active since 2003 | [31] |
Curts | FFG-38 | Todd, San Pedro | 1983- | Naval Reserve Force, Active since 1998 | [32] |
Doyle | FFG-39 | Bath Iron Works | 1983–2011 | Decommissioned July 29, 2011 | [33] |
Halyburton | FFG-40 | Todd, Seattle | 1983- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [34] |
McClusky | FFG-41 | Todd, San Pedro | 1983- | Naval Reserve Force, Active since 2002 | [35] |
Klakring | FFG-42 | Bath Iron Works | 1983-2011 | Naval Reserve Force, Active since 2002 | [36] |
Thach | FFG-43 | Todd, San Pedro | 1984- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [37] |
built for Australia as HMAS Darwin | FFG-44 | Todd, Seattle | 1984- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [38] |
De Wert | FFG-45 | Bath Iron Works | 1983- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [39] |
Rentz | FFG-46 | Todd, San Pedro | 1984- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [40] |
Nicholas | FFG-47 | Bath Iron Works | 1984- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [41] |
Vandegrift | FFG-48 | Todd, Seattle | 1984- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [42] |
Robert G. Bradley | FFG-49 | Bath Iron Works | 1984- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [43] |
Taylor | FFG-50 | Bath Iron Works | 1984- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [44] |
Gary | FFG-51 | Todd, San Pedro | 1984- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [45] |
Carr | FFG-52 | Todd, Seattle | 1985- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [46] |
Hawes | FFG-53 | Bath Iron Works | 1985–2010 | Decommissioned, to be cannibalised in Philadelphia | [47] |
Ford | FFG-54 | Todd, San Pedro | 1985- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [48] |
Elrod | FFG-55 | Bath Iron Works | 1985- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [49] |
Simpson | FFG-56 | Bath Iron Works | 1985- | Naval Reserve Force, Active since 2002 | [50] |
Reuben James | FFG-57 | Todd, San Pedro | 1986- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [51] |
Samuel B. Roberts | FFG-58 | Bath Iron Works | 1986- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [52] |
Kauffman | FFG-59 | Bath Iron Works | 1987- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [53] |
Rodney M. Davis | FFG-60 | Todd, San Pedro | 1987- | Naval Reserve Force, Active since 2002 | [54] |
Ingraham | FFG-61 | Todd, San Pedro | 1989- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | [55] |
Australian-built | |||||
HMAS Melbourne | FFG 05 | Australian Marine Engineering Consolidated (AMECON), Williamstown, Victoria | 1992- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
HMAS Newcastle | FFG 06 | AMECON, Williamstown | 1993- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
Spanish-built | |||||
SPS Santa María | F81 | Bazan, Ferrol | 1986- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
SPS Victoria | F82 | Bazan, Ferrol | 1987- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
SPS Numancia | F83 | Bazan, Ferrol | 1989- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
SPS Reina Sofía | F84 | Bazan, Ferrol | 1990- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
SPS Navarra | F85 | Bazan, Ferrol | 1994- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
SPS Canarias | F86 | Bazan, Ferrol | 1994- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
Taiwan-built (Republic of China) | |||||
ROCS Cheng Kung | PFG-1101 | China Shipbuilding, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 1993- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
ROCS Cheng Ho | PFG-1103 | China Shipbuilding, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 1994- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
ROCS Chi Kuang | PFG-1105 | China Shipbuilding, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 1995- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
ROCS Yueh Fei | PFG-1106 | China Shipbuilding, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 1996- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
ROCS Tzu I | PFG-1107 | China Shipbuilding, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 1997- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
ROCS Pan Chao | PFG-1108 | China Shipbuilding, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 1997- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
ROCS Chang Chien | PFG-1109 | China Shipbuilding, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 1998- | in active service, as of 2012[update] | |
ROCS Tian Dan | PFG-1110 | China Shipbuilding, Kaohsiung, Taiwan | 2004- | in active service, as of 2012[update] |