The Oliver Hazard Perry class is a class of guided missile 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 complement 1960s-era Knox-class frigates. In Admiral Zumwalt’s high low fleet plan, the FFG-7s were the low capability ships with the Spruance-class destroyers destroyers serving as the high capability ships. Intended to protect amphibious landing forces, supply and replenishment groups, and merchant convoys from aircraft and submarines, they also later were part of battleship-centred 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 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, Taiwan and Turkey.
The U.S. Navy built 51 of the Oliver Hazard Perry frigates, with the first going into service in 1977. The last, the USS Simpson (FFG-56) was decommissioned on Sept. 29, 2015. The retired vessels were either mothballed or transferred to other navies for continued service.
(Text Wikipedia)
Posted by David’s World 2011 on 2016-07-25 16:48:53
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