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fighting ships of the world

UNITED STATES NAVY (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

ESCORTS

OLIVER HAZARD PERRY missile frigates (1977 - 1989)

Oliver H. Perry 2000

McClusky 2010

Project history: These frigates, direct successors to the Knox class, suffer from much the same criticisms: a single screw and a single weapon (one Mk 13 missile launcher). However, they benefit from a considerable, if unappreciated, degree of redundancy. For example, the fire control system has two channels (two guidance radars, physically well separated). There was a pair of retractable 325hp motors to bring the ship home at 6kts if she loses her main power plant. Although the hull sonar was a short-range (direct path) SQS-56, the primary ASW was SQR-19 towed array, its contacts prosecuted by the two LAMPS helicopters in a large hangar aft.

    The Perry class suffered from several ironies. It was first conceived after the truncation of the Spruance class failed to replace the FRAM destroyers; Admiral Zumwalt sought alternative weapon suits for AAW, ASW and anti-ship warfare in the hope of reducing unit costs. In fact, the primary anti-ship weapon, Harpoon, could be fired from the primary AAW launcher, the Mk 13. If the ASROC missile (which cannot be fired from the Mk 13) was foregone, helicopter delivery would provide an AAW-oriented frigate with a considerable ASW stand-off capability. Indeed, even though the Perry does not share the elaborate silencing of the Spruance (for example, it had a diesel ship service generator) or the long-range sonar of previous ocean escorts, it gained a very considerable detection capability in the form of the towed array. Ironically, the ASW frigate was originally rejected on the theory that large numbers of such ships with effective sonars already existed. The advent of the towed array/helicopter combination showed in the decision to double the number of helicopters, which had a considerable effect on the overall design. In the original one-helicopter version, the helipad was placed aft of amidships, in the most favourable position, with the hangar splitting the uptakes. However, two helicopters required a much wider hangar, and both it and the helipad had to be moved aft.

    The Mk 92 fire control system was of Dutch origin and was employed, in a somewhat simpler form, in the Pegasus hydrofoils. As installed in the Perry class, it was part of a combat system particularly adapted to combat 'pop-up' weapons such as the Soviet SSN-7 underwater-launched missile. The OTO Melara 76mm gun was chosen as superior to a 127mm/54 in air defence, and it was complemented by a Vulcan Phalanx close-in defence weapon.

    Although all were intended to operate LAMPS III helicopters, FFG7-35 were completed without the necessary equipment, including an enlarged flight deck (the ship was lengthened 3.16m to accommodate mooring equipment below the flight deck), RAST gear, and fin stabilisers. From the FY79 ships (FFG36) on, ships were so fitted (RAST was not fitted on completion until FFG50).

    RAST (Recovery Assistance, Securing, and Traversing) was tested on board FFG8 in 1981 (rebuilt as SH-60B trials ship, completed in February 1981). FFG26 conducted stabiliser trials in 1982.

Modernizations: 1981-1990, McInerney, Boone, Stephen W. Groves, John L. Hall, Jarrett: length oa became 138.8m; - 2 SH-2 helicopters; +2 SH-60 helicopters

1984-1986, all: - Standard SM-1MR SAM; + Standard SM-1MR Block VI SAM

1986-1995, Underwood, Nicholas, Vandegrift, Taylor, Gary, Carr, Hawes, Ford, Elrod, Reuben James, Kauffman, Ingraham: - SPS-49(v)4, Mk 92 Mod. 4 radars; + SPS-49(v)5, Mk 92 Mod. 6 radars, SYS-2(v)2 CCS

1979-1980, McInerney, Clark, Samuel Eliot Morison; early 1980s, Mahlon S. Tisdale, Boone, Stephen W. Groves, Reid, Stark, John L. Hall, Jarett, Aubrey Fitch, Underwood, Crommelin, Curts, Doyle, Halyburton, McClusky, Klakring, Thach, De Wert; 1985-1988, Oliver Hazard Perry, Wadsworth, Duncan, George Philip, Sides, Estocin, Clifton Sprague, John A. Moore, Antrim, Flatley, Fahrion, Lewis B. Puller, Jack Williams, Copeland, Gallery, Rentz, Nicholas, Vandegrift, Robert G. Bradley, Taylor, Gary, Carr, Hawes, Ford, Elrod, Simpson, Reuben James, Samuel B. Roberts, Kauffman, Rodney M. Davis, Ingraham: + 1 x 6 - 20/76 Mk 15 Phalanx CIWS, Mk 90 radar

1990s, Sides, Aubrey Fitch Crommelin, Taylor, Gary, Carr, Ford: - SQQ-89(V)2 sonar suite (SQS-56 hull-mounted sonar + SQR-19(v)2 towed array); + SQQ-89(v)10 sonar suite (SQS-56 hull-mounted sonar + SQR-19B(v)2 towed array)

1990s, all: + (2 - 4) x 1 - 12.7/90

2004-2005, all survived: - 1 x 1 Harpoon SSM / Standard SM-1MR SAM

2009-2010, all survived: + 1 x 1 - 25/75 Mk 38 Mod. 2, 4x Mk 137 Mod. 10 Nulka decoy RLs

Naval service: No significant events.

Oliver Hazard Perry 1977

Thach 2003

Rodney M. Davis 2008

© Ivan Gogin, 2016