USS Robert E. Peary (FF-1073)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Robert E. Peary.
USS Robert E. Peary (FF-1073)
History
United States
Name: Robert E. Peary
Namesake: Robert Peary
Ordered: 22 July 1964
Builder: Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company, Seattle, Washington
Laid down: 20 December 1970
Launched: 23 June 1971
Acquired: 11 August 1972
Commissioned: 23 September 1972
Decommissioned: 7 August 1992
Struck: 11 January 1995
Identification: FF-1073
Fate: Transferred to Taiwan as Chi Yang (FF-932)
Taiwan
Name: Chi Yang
Acquired: 7 August 1992
Commissioned: 6 October 1993
Decommissioned: 1 May 2015
Identification: FF-932
Fate: Awaiting disposal
General characteristics
Class and type: Knox-class frigate
Displacement: 4,066 long tons (4,131 t) (full load)
Length: 438 ft (134 m)
Beam: 47 ft (14 m)
Draft: 25 ft (7.6 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × CE 1200psi boilers
  • 1 Westinghouse geared turbine
  • 1 shaft, 35,000 shp (26,000 kW)
Speed: over 27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h)
Range: 4,500 nautical miles (8,330 km) at 20 knots (23 mph; 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
  • AN/SQS-35 Towed Body Sonar
  • 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 Robert E. Peary (FF-1073) was a Knox-class frigate that saw service with the United States Navy from 1972 until 1992. In 1992, the ship was decommissioned and loaned to the Republic of China. The ship was renamed Chi Yang (Chinese: 濟陽) and served in the Taiwanese navy until 2015.

Design and description

The Knox-class design was derived from the Brooke class 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

The third US Navy warship ship named for Robert E. Peary was laid down 20 December 1970 by the Lockheed Ship Building and Drydock Company at Seattle, Washington; launched 26 June 1971; sponsored by Miss Josephine Peary; and commissioned 23 September 1972, Comdr. Charles Beasley, USN, in command.

Following two months of miscellaneous tests and trials along the northern Pacific coast of the United States, she steamed into her home port at Long Beach, California, 8 November. Robert E. Peary remained in the Long Beach area for one year exactly, departing for WestPac 9 November 1973 and arriving in Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, ten days later.

Robert E. Peary was decommissioned on 7 August 1992, and loaned to the Republic of China.[4] The destroyer escort was renamed Chi Yang by the Taiwanese Navy and served with the identification number FF-932. The vessel was commissioned into the Taiwanese Navy on 6 October 1993.[4] On 11 November 1995 the ship was officially struck from the United States navy list. The frigate continued service until 2015, when on 1 May, Chi Yang and her sister, Hai Ying, were decommissioned at Kaohsiung. The two ships will be cannibalized for parts to keep the remaining six Knox-class vessels of the Taiwanese Navy in service.[5]

USS Robert E. Peary as seen from the starboard side of USS Truxtun circa 1991 in the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm
USS Robert E. Peary as ROCS Chi Yang (FF-932) in Keelung, Taiwan, 2012

Notes

  1. ↑ Friedman, pp. 357–60, 425
  2. ↑ Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 598
  3. ↑ Friedman, pp. 360–61; Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 598
  4. 1 2 Saunders, p. 720
  5. ↑ "ROC navy frigates decommissioned in Kaohsiung". Taiwan Today. 4 May 2015. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.

References

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