Tag Archives: USS Klakring (FFG-42)

Scratch another Fig-7

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Gaze upon this beautiful new “long hull” Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate USS Klakring (FFG 42) underway on 28 June 1983 during her builder’s trials off Maine prior to commissioning later that August.

Gotta love that “one-armed bandit” launcher on her bow.

Bath Iron Works Corp. photo via National Archives, Identifier 6405085, Navy Assigned Identifier DNSC8605676

The first naval vessel named for famed WWII submarine skipper and Yankee Wolfpack leader RADM Thomas Burton “Burt” Klakring who earned three (3) Navy Crosses and a Silver Star during WWII, the frigate herself made a bit of history, participating in Earnest Will/Prime Chance during the Iran-Iraq War, made 20 overseas deployments, was one of the first ships to vet the MQ-8 FireScout VTOL-UAV at sea, and in seizing 3,850 gallons of liquid cocaine while on JTF-South/4th Fleet tasking in 2013.

Decommissioned and stricken in 2013, she has been in mothballs for the past 13 years and, as part of Op Atlantic Thunder 2026, was expended during a SINKEX on 21 September 2026 by the U.S. and Royal Navy in deep water (+1,000 fathoms) some 150 miles off the coast of the Hebrides in Scotland.

The Flight IIA Burke-class destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG 117) opened the engagement with an SM-6 fired at its maximum (undisclosed) anti-surface range. The 140-pound frag warhead is seen doing a good bit of damage and would probably have been an effective “mission kill” on its own against the 4,000-ton FFG.

The Type 23 (Duke) class frigate HMS Portland (F 79), fresh out of a mid-life LIFEX overhaul, fired a Naval Strike Missile (NSM). Of note, Portland is only the second RN ship to carry NSM.

A Royal Navy Wildcat helicopter launched an MBDA Sea Venom/ANL, the first time the Royal Navy’s new light (275-pound) anti-ship missiles have been fired at a real warship.

USAF F-15E Strike Eagles also struck the target with undisclosed ordnance before the Virginia-class submarine USS Massachusetts (SSN 798) administered the coup de grace with a Mk 48 (or higher?) torpedo.

For this sinking, the UK Defence Journal noted, “Particular interest is placed on uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) able to perform underwater battle damage assessment after the strike.”

Of the 71 FFG-7s completed for the U.S. and allied fleets, 35 are still in service overseas (both Turkey and Taiwan, for instance, have eight apiece), with just five laid up stateside in the NISMF, awaiting disposal.

  • ex-USS Taylor (FFG-50)
  • ex-USS Elrod (FFG-55)
  • ex-USS Simpson (FFG-56) (The final U.S. Navy FFG-7 to decommission)
  • ex-USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58)
  • ex-USS Kauffman (FFG-59)

The snuff film of Klakring being taken out, with terrible music, is below from Navy Lookout.

Efforts to Save an FFG Sunk

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6 January 2013. Period caption: “Guided-missile frigate USS Halyburton (FFG 40) transits the Gulf of Aden. Halyburton is deployed with Commander, Task Group 508, promoting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.” (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jamar X. Perry/Released)

We’ve talked about the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard in Erie, Pennsylvania, and their half-decade-long effort to secure one of the 7 long-decommissioned FFG-7 class frigates currently stored at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships facility at Philadelphia.

The vessel they were looking to acquire, ex-USS Halyburton (FFG-40) has been in storage since 2014 and is the most complete of her class in mothballs, having been on donation hold.

Well, it looks like that isn’t going to happen.

From the museum, repeated in whole for posterity should their site disappear.

November 25, 2024: United States Navy Declines OHPS Phase II Application For Donation of USS Halyburton (FFG-40)

U.S. Navy has declined the Phase II application of the USS Halyburton (FFG-40) to the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard. The U.S. Navy listed several reasons for the decision including additional funding on hand, the first 5 years of operating expenditures, and a long-term lease with the Western Erie Port Authority. These were several of the items that the Navy wanted to see more concrete information about.

This is the end of the nearly 6-year-long journey to bring an Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate to Erie, Pennsylvania. “This is a sad day for the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard and the many Navy veterans who served on the Perry Class Frigates. For the past 5 years, our efforts to bring the USS Halyburton (FFG-40) to Erie have been rigorous and diligent. We have exhausted all available avenues with the Navy and now we have brought the project to an end.” said Dr. Joe Pfadt Chief Executive Officer of the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard.

“We gave it our best effort but came up short. This was a long and very detailed process,” said Pfadt. There are no other known plans on the part of the Navy to release a Perry Class Frigate for historic display anywhere else in the country. The USS Halyburton (FFG-40) will most likely be reduced to scrap or used as a target ship and sunk by the Navy.

Of the 51 former USN FFG-7s (another 20 were built for Australia, Spain, and Taiwan), one was sold/transferred to Pakistan, two each went to Poland, Taiwan, and Bahrain (the last just arriving at its new home early this year after a $150 million update), four to Egypt, and eight to Turkey. Of the rest, 12 were sunk as targets, and 13 were scrapped.

The handful that is left in Philly only escaped the cull as they were typically on hold for potential foreign military sale, with Mexico, Thailand, Greece, and Ukraine all mentioned as possible end users but those transfers never materialized, leaving them often open for plunder by the active Navy, foreign governments operating their sisters, and the Coast Guard for useable gear including turbines, Mk 75/38 mounts, CIWS systems, gun control panels, barrels, junction boxes, and other components– meaning they are far less than ideal for use as a museum ship and will more than likely be bound for SINKEXs.

For the record, besides Halyburton, Philly also holds the late flight “long hull” FFG7s ex-USS Klakring (FFG-42), De Wert (FFG 45), Carr (FFG 52), Elrod (FFG 55), Simpson (FFG 56), and Kaufman (FFG 59).

That means, unless a second-hand frigate can be “acquired” from Egypt, Turkey, Poland, Taiwan, or Bahrain by some veterans group at some point in the future once those countries are done with them (it happened before, that’s how USS Orleck and Slater made it over here, purchased privately from Turkey and Greece, respectively), that’s a wrap for the class in U.S. waters.

Perhaps a CG-47 class cruiser could be preserved instead. The time to get started on such an effort would be now.

At this point, there hasn’t been a “new” museum ship put on display since Iowa opened to the public in 2012.