Oliver Hazard Perry-Class Frigate

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 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. 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.

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  Royal Bahrain Naval Force  Republic of China Navy  Egyptian Navy  Pakistan Navy  Polish Navy  Spanish 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
Active:	13 (US Navy)
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 azimuth thrusters 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 & 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-aircraftguided 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 Mk 38 Mod 2 Naval Gun Systemsinstalled on platforms over the removed MK 13 launchers 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-60Seahawk LAMPS III on the long-hulled ships)

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.

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.

The Oliver Hazard Perry frigates

Source

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