USS Clifton Sprague

USS Clifton Sprague (FFG-16) was an Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate of the United States Navy, the tenth ship of that class. She was named for Vice Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague (1896–1955), hero of the Battle off Samar action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where he received the Navy Cross. Clifton Sprague (FFG-16) was the first ship of that name in the US Navy. She was transferred to the Turkish Naval Forces in 1997 as TCG Gaziantep (F 490) and remains in active service.

USS Clifton Sprague, 17 November 1980
History
United States
Name:	Clifton Sprague
Namesake:	Vice Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague
Ordered:	27 February 1976
Builder:	Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Laid down:	30 July 1979
Launched:	16 February 1980
Sponsored by:	Courtney Sprague Vaughan, daughter of Adm. Sprague
Commissioned:	21 March 1981
Decommissioned:	2 June 1995
Stricken:	4 September 1997
Homeport:	Naval Station Mayport
Identification:	Hull symbol:FFG-16 Code letters:NCAS
Motto:	"Nunc Paratus" (Ready Now)
Fate:	Disposed of through the Security Assistance Program (SAP)
Badge:
TCG Gaziantep, 31 May 2010
History
Turkey
Name:	TCG Gaziantep
Namesake:	City of Gaziantep
Acquired:	27 August 1997
Identification:	Hull number: F 490
Status:	in active service
General characteristics
Class and type:	Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate
Displacement:	4,100 long tons (4,200 t), full load
Length:	445 feet (136 m), overall
Beam:	45 feet (14 m)
Draft:	22 feet (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:	5,000 nautical miles at 18 knots (9,300 km at 33 km/h)
Complement:	15 officers and 190 enlisted, plus SH-60 LAMPS detachment of roughly six officer pilots and 15 enlisted maintainers
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-49 air-search radar AN/SPS-55 surface-search radar CAS and STIR fire-control radar AN/SQS-56 sonar.
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32
Armament:	As built: 1 × OTO Melara Mk 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun 2 × Mk 32 triple-tube (324 mm) launchers for Mark 46 torpedoes 1 × Vulcan Phalanx CIWS 4 × .50-cal (12.7 mm) machine guns. 1 × Mk 13 Mod 4 single-arm launcher for Harpoon anti-ship missiles and SM-1MR Standard anti-ship/air missiles (40 round magazine) Note: As of 2004, Mk 13 systems removed from all active US vessels of this class.
Aircraft carried:	1 × SH-2F LAMPS I helicopter[1]

History

Ordered from Bath Iron Works on 27 February 1976 as part of the FY76 program, Clifton Sprague was laid down 30 July 1979, launched 16 February 1980, and commissioned 21 March 1981.

Clifton Sprague was part of the forces during Operation Urgent Fury, the US led 1983 Invasion of Grenada.[2] The frigate served as the clandestine mother ship for a pre-invasion reconnaissance team of Navy SEALs and Air Force combat controllers. Prior to D-Day on Oct. 25, the 20-man commando force twice attempted to use small boats launched from the frigate to reach a new airport under construction on Grenada's southwest coast. Their nighttime attempts to make an assessment of its military defenses and the condition of its uncompleted runway were frustrated both times by rough seas, equipment failures and bad luck.[3]

In July 1993, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg and Clifton Sprague participated in a passing exercise (PASSEX) with three Russian ships, cruiser Marshal Ustinov, destroyer Admiral Kharlamov and the replenishment ship Dnester. This was noteworthy because the two navies had an adversarial relationship for decades prior to the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.[4]

Clifton Sprague was part of the flotilla for Operation Uphold Democracy, the September 1995 US intervention in Haiti.[5]

She was decommissioned on 2 June 1995 at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, and was stricken from the US Navy register on 4 September 1997 after being transferred to Turkey.

TCG Gaziantep (F 490)

She was transferred to Turkey on 27 August 1997 as that nation's TCG Gaziantep (F 490), and then immediately modified into a G-class frigate by the Turkish Naval Yard. As of 2011, she was still in active service.

Awards

Clifton Sprague and her crew received the following unit awards, according to the US Navy unit awards website:[6]

• Navy E Ribbon, 1 October 1980 to 30 September 1981
• Navy E Ribbon, 1 October 1981 to 30 September 1982
• Navy Expeditionary Medal, 18 April 1983 to 22 April 1983, 1983 United States embassy bombing, Lebanon
• Meritorious Unit Commendation, 23 October 1983 to 2 November 1983, Invasion of Grenada / Operation Urgent Fury
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, 23 October 1983 to 18 November 1983, Invasion of Grenada / Operation Urgent Fury
• Navy E Ribbon 1 October 1983 to 31 March 1985
• Navy E Ribbon 1 April 1985 to 30 September 1986
• Coast Guard Special Operations Service Ribbon for 1 April 1989
• Coast Guard Special Operations Service Ribbon, 1 July 1989 to 30 September 1989
• Secretary of the Navy Letter of Commendation, 1 December 1989 to 1 April 1990
• Joint Meritorious Unit Award, 28 January 1991 to 25 February 1991, this was in the Desert Storm time period, but FFG-16 was not listed as participating in the Gulf War.[7]
• Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, 16 September 1994 to 24 September 1994, Operation Uphold Democracy Haiti
• Meritorious Unit Commendation, 11 September 1994 to 31 March 1995, Operation Uphold Democracy Haiti
• National Defense Service Medal for service during the Gulf War era

Clifton Sprague was also nominated for the United States Public Health Service Outstanding Unit Citation for operations from 24 June 1994 to 12 July 1994, but did not receive the award. This was around the time that many refugees were fleeing Haiti in small boats.[8]

References

1. "USS Clifton Sprague (FFG 16)". Navysite.de. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
2. "Facts: 30th Anniversary of the U-S-Caribbean Intervention in Grenada". US Southern Command.
3. Kukielski, Philip (2019). The U.S. Invasion of Grenada : legacy of a flawed victory. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Co. pp. 28–30. ISBN 978-1-4766-7879-5. OCLC 1123182247.
4. Associated Press (7 July 1993). "USS Gettysburg trains with Russian Ships". Gettysburg Times.
5. Associated Press (15 September 1994). "American Flotilla". Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph.
6. "Unit Awards". US Navy. Archived from the original on 14 October 2004.
7. "Desert Storm Apdx B". US Naval History and Heritage Command.
8. Associated Press (29 June 1994). "Haitians to go to Guantanamo". Syracuse Herald-Journal. Syracuse, New York.

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

• MaritimeQuest USS Clifton Sprague FFG-16 pages