Knox-class frigate

Knox-class frigate USS Robert E. Peary (FF-1073) and the skyline of San Francisco in the background
Class overview
Builders
Operators
Preceded byGarcia class / Brooke class
Succeeded byOliver Hazard Perry class
Subclasses
Built1965–1974
In commission1969–1994 (USN)
Planned55
Completed46
Cancelled9[1]
Retired46 (USN), some were transferred to other countries where they are in active service
Preserved2
General characteristics
Type
Displacement4,065 long tons (4,130 t) (full load)
Length438 ft (134 m)
Beam46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Draft24 ft 9 in (7.54 m)
Installed power
  • 2 × 1,200 psi (8,300 kPa) boilers
  • 35,000 shp (26,000 kW)
Propulsion
  • 1 × Westinghouse steam turbine
  • 1 × shaft
Speed27 kn (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement17 officers, 240 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems
Electronic warfare
& decoys
Armament
Aircraft carried

The 46 Knox-class frigates were the largest, last, and most numerous of the US Navy's second-generation anti-submarine warfare (ASW) escorts. Originally laid down as ocean escorts (formerly called destroyer escorts), they were all redesignated as frigates on 30 June 1975, in the 1975 ship reclassification plan and their hull designation changed from 'DE' to 'FF'. The Knox class was the Navy's last destroyer-type design with a steam turbine powerplant.

Due to their unequal comparison to destroyers then in service (larger size with lower speed and only a single propeller and 5-inch gun), they became known to a generation of destroyermen as "McNamara's Folly."[2]

These ships were retired from the US Navy at the end of the Cold War due to their relatively high running costs, a declining defense budget, and the need for ships with a more advanced anti-submarine capability. None of the ships served more than 23 years in the US Navy, and by 1994, all of the class had been retired, although some remain in service with foreign nations such as Egypt, Taiwan, Thailand, and Mexico.

  1. ^ Bauer and Roberts 1991, pp. 244
  2. ^ "Knox class". destroyerhistory.org. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2009.