USS Connole

USS Connole underway
History
United States
Name: USS Connole
Namesake: David R. Connole
Ordered: 22 July 1964
Builder: Avondale Shipyard, Westwego, Louisiana
Yard number: 1070
Laid down: 23 March 1967
Launched: 20 July 1968
Acquired: 22 August 1969
Commissioned: 30 August 1969
Identification: DE-1056
Reclassified: FF-1056, 1 July 1975
Decommissioned: 30 August 1992
Struck: 11 January 1995
Motto:
  • Exempla Suorum Durant
  • The Example of our Ancestors Endures
Fate: Transferred to Greece, 1992
Greece
Name: Ipiros
Acquired: 1992
Decommissioned: 2003
Identification: F456
Fate: sunk as target, 2006
General characteristics
Class and type: Knox-class frigate
Displacement: 3,278 tons (4,245 full load)
Length: 438 ft (134 m)
Beam: 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Draft: 24 ft 9 in (7.6 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × Babcock & Wilcox 1200psi boilers
  • 1 Westinghouse geared turbine
  • 1 shaft, 35,000 shp (26,000 kW)
Speed: over 27 knots (50 km/h)
Endurance: 4,500 nautical miles @ 20 knots (8,300 km @ 37 km/h)
Complement: 18 officers, 267 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • AN/SPS-40 Air Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-67 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SQS-26 Sonar
  • AN/SQR-18 Towed array sonar system
  • Mk68 Gun Fire Control System
Electronic warfare
& decoys:		 AN/SLQ-32 Electronics Warfare System
Armament:
Aircraft carried: one SH-2 Seasprite (LAMPS I) helicopter

USS Connole (FF-1056) was a Knox-class frigate. Named for Commander David R. Connole, Captain of USS Trigger when the submarine was lost in battle in March 1945.

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 feet (133.5 m), a beam of 47 feet (14.3 m) and a draft of 25 feet (7.6 m). They displaced 4,066 long tons (4,131 t) at full load. Their crew consisted of 13 officers and 211 enlisted men.[1]

The ships were equipped with one Westinghouse geared steam turbine that drove the single propeller shaft. The turbine was designed to produce 35,000 shaft horsepower (26,000 kW), using steam provided by 2 C-E boilers, to reach the designed speed of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph). The Knox class had a range of 4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[2]

The Knox-class ships were armed with a 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun forward and a single 3″/50 caliber gun aft. They mounted an eight-round ASROC launcher between the 5-inch (127 mm) 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 also had the 3-inch (76 mm) gun replaced by an eight-cell BPDMS missile launcher in the early 1970s.[3]

Construction and career

Connole was constructed for the United States Navy by Avondale Shipyard, Westwego, Louisiana, laid down 23 March 1967, launched 20 July 1968 and delivered 22 August 1969. She was commissioned 30 August 1969, served as a test bed for some of the Navy's most advanced sonars, decommissioned 30 August 1992 and struck 11 January 1995. Connole was transferred to Greece as Ipiros (F456), named after the region of Epirus. The ship was decommissioned by Greece in 2003.

Notes

  1. ↑ Friedman, pp. 357–60, 425
  2. ↑ Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 598
  3. ↑ Friedman, pp. 360–61; Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 598

References


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