USS Knox (FF-1052)

USS Knox (DE/FF-1052) was the lead ship of her class of destroyer escorts in the United States Navy. Knox was named for Commodore Dudley Wright Knox, and was the second US Navy ship named Knox. In 1975, she was redesignated a frigate. She served from 1969 to 1992, and was sunk as a target in 2007.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Knox.

USS Knox (FF-1052)
History
United States
Name: Knox
Namesake: Commodore Dudley Wright Knox
Awarded: 22 July 1964
Builder: Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington
Laid down: 5 October 1965
Launched: 19 November 1966
Sponsored by: Mrs. Peter A. Sturtevant
Acquired: 28 March 1969
Commissioned: 12 April 1969
Decommissioned: 14 February 1992
Reclassified: 30 June 1975
Stricken: 11 January 1995
Identification:
Motto: First and Finest
Fate: Sunk as target, 7 August 2007
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Knox-class frigate
Displacement:
  • 3,020 long tons (3,070 t) (standard)
  • 4,065 long tons (4,130 t) (full load)
Length:
  • 415 ft (126 m) lwl
  • 438 ft (134 m) loa
Beam: 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Draft: 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m)
Installed power:
  • 2 × CE 1,200 psi (8,300 kPa) boilers
  • 35,000 shp (26,000 kW)
Propulsion:
  • 1 × Westinghouse geared turbine
  • 1 × shaft
Speed: over 27 kn (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range: 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 16 officers, 211 men
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • AN/SPS-10 surface search
  • AN/SPS-40 air search
  • AN/SQS-26CX sonar
  • AN/SQS-35 IVDS towed array sonar
Electronic warfare
& decoys:		 AN/SLQ-32 Electronics Warfare System
Armament:
Aircraft carried:
  • 1 × DASH drone helicopter
  • 1 × SH-2 LAMPS I helicopter (refit)

Design and description

The Knox-class design was derived from the Brooke-class frigate modified to extend range and without a long-range missile system. The ships had an overall length of 438 ft (133.5 m), a beam of 47 ft (14.3 m) and a draft of 25 ft (7.6 m). They displaced 4,065 long tons (4,130 t) at full load. Their crew consisted of 16 officers and 211 enlisted men.[2]

The ships were equipped with one Westinghouse geared steam turbine that drove the single propeller shaft. The turbine was designed to produce 35,000 shp (26,000 kW), using steam provided by two C-E boilers, to reach the designed speed of 27 kn (50 km/h; 31 mph). The Knox class had a range of 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at a speed of 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph).[3]

The Knox-class ships were armed with a single 5-inch (127 mm)/54 caliber Mark 42 gun. They mounted an eight-round ASROC launcher between the 5-inch gun and the bridge. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two twin 12.75-inch (324 mm) Mk 32 torpedo tubes. The ships were equipped with a torpedo-carrying DASH drone helicopter; its telescoping hangar and landing pad were positioned amidships aft of the mack. Beginning in the 1970s, the DASH was replaced by a SH-2 Seasprite LAMPS I helicopter and the hangar and landing deck were accordingly enlarged. Most ships had an eight-cell BPDMS missile launcher added in the early 1970s.[4][3]

Construction

She was laid down 5 October 1965, by Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington; launched 19 November 1966; sponsored by Mrs. Peter A. Sturtevant, the granddaughter of Commodore Knox; and was commissioned on 12 April 1969, with Commander William A. Lamm in command.[1]

Service history

Knox performed search and rescue operations and provided evacuation, blockade, and surveillance support, when necessary, for the Pacific Fleet. In April 1975, Knox participated in Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.[5] Knox was redesignated a frigate on 30 June 1975 as FF-1052.[1]

Disposition

Decommissioned on 14 February 1992, Knox was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 January 1995. NAVSEA temporarily placed Knox on the donation hold list but removed her from the list around 2003. Knox was sunk as a target off Guam, during "Exercise Valiant Shield" (2007) on 7 August 2007.[1]

Awards, citations and campaign ribbons
Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (with two bronze service stars)
Navy Expeditionary Medal
 National Defense Service Medal (with one bronze service star)
 Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (with one bronze service star)
 Vietnam Service Medal (with one bronze service star)
Humanitarian Service Ribbon
Sea Service Deployment Ribbon
Vietnam Campaign Medal

[1]

  • Knox in 1969.
  • USS Chicago passes tow line to Knox after Knox was disabled by a JP-5 fire in engineering spaces on 4 March 1971, while en route from Guam to Hawaii.

Notes
  1. Navsource.
  2. Friedman 1982, pp. 357–360, 425.
  3. Gardiner, Chumbley & Budzbon 1995, p. 598.
  4. Friedman 1982, pp. 360-361.
  5. DANFS.
gollark: I don't think I agree, having direct input would expose it to the whims of whatever random controversy has happened *more*.
gollark: And "oh bees [BAD THING] happened so now we must immediately respond to it in some stupid way".
gollark: If you make law really easy to add to, you'll run into problems like "oh bees there are several million pages of law nobody has read".
gollark: My view is generally that the government should avoid doing too much and have law-writing and stuff handled such that it can't start jumping far ahead of popular opinion.
gollark: I feel like you should need greater-than-majority support to change meta-laws governing parliament.

References
  • Friedman, Norman (1982). U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-733-X.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen & Budzbon, Przemysław (1995). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
  • "USS Knox (DE-1052)". 1 June 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  • "By Sea, Air and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the war in Southeast Asia Chapter 5: The Final Curtain, 1973–1975". 4 June 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  • 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.

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