USS Kauffman (FFG-59)

USS Kauffman (FFG-59)
USS Kauffman (FFG-59)
USS Kauffman in 1986
Career (U.S.)
Namesake: Vice Admiral James L. Kauffman and Rear Admiral Draper L. Kauffman
Builder: Bath Iron Works
Laid down: 8 April 1985
Launched: 29 March 1986
Commissioned: 28 February 1987
Decommissioned: 21 September 2015 (planned)
Homeport: NS Norfolk, Virginia
Status: in active service, as of 2015
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate
Displacement:4,100 tons (4,165 t) full load
Length:453 ft (138 m) overall
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 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; one Mk 13 Mod 4 single-arm launcher for Harpoon anti-ship missiles and SM-1MR Standard anti-ship/air missiles (40 round magazine); 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 carried:2 × SH-60 LAMPS III helicopters
Motto:Toujours en Vedette ("Always in the Lead")
Nickname(s):Special K

USS Kauffman (FFG-59), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is a ship of the United States Navy named for Vice Admiral James L. Kauffman (1887–1963) and his son, Rear Admiral Draper L. Kauffman (1911–1979), both experts in sub-surface naval missions.

Kauffman was laid down on 8 April 1985 by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; launched on 29 March 1986; sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Kauffman Bush the daughter of Vice Admiral James L. Kauffman; and commissioned on 28 February 1987 at Bath, Maine, Commander John C. Dranchak, USN in command. As of 2012, Kauffman is captained by Commander William K. Shafley, III, USN, homeported at NS Norfolk, Virginia, and assigned to Destroyer Squadron 22.

Kauffman deployed for the final time on 8 January 2015. She is scheduled to be decommissioned on 21 September 2015, the last Oliver Hazard Perry-class ship in American service to be deactivated, ending the type's 40 year history in the United States Navy.[1]

History

USS Kauffman sailing through Souda Bay, Crete, in August 2002.

Note: the milestones are extracted from the official command histories [2] and no other sources. The set of command histories available is not complete, resulting in the partial record following.

1988 [3]

1989 [4]

1990 [5]

1991 [6]

1992 [7]

1993 [8]

1994 [9]

1996 [10]

1997 [11]

1998 [12]

1999 [13]

2004 [14]

Commanding officers

Note: unless otherwise referenced, information has been sourced from the official command histories.[2]

References

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Kauffman (FFG-59).