USS Klakring (FFG-42)

Namesake:	Rear Admiral Thomas B. Klakring
Builder:	Bath Iron Works
Laid down:	19 February 1982
Launched:	18 September 1982
Commissioned:	20 August 1983
Homeport:	Mayport, Florida
Motto:	Freedom Through Vigilance
Nickname:	Special K
Status:	Naval Reserve Force, active in service
General characteristics
Class and type:	Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate
Displacement:	4,100 long tons (4,200 t), full load
Length:	453 feet (138 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 azipods 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; and decoys:	AN/SLQ-32
Armament:	As built:; One OTO Melara Mk 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun; two Mk 32 triple-tube (324 mm) launchers for Mark 46 torpedoes; one Vulcan Phalanx CIWS; four .50-cal (12.7 mm) machine guns.; one 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, Mk13 systems removed from all active US vessels of this class.
Aircraft carried:	2 × SH-60 LAMPS III helicopters

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USS Klakring (FFG-42), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, is a ship of the United States Navy named for Rear Admiral Thomas B. Klakring (1904–1975), who was awarded three Navy Crosses as commander of the submarine USS Guardfish (SS-217) during World War II.

Klakring was laid down on 19 February 1982 by the Bath Iron Works Corp. Bath, Maine; launched on 18 September 1982; sponsored by Beverly Bohen, a niece of R.Adm. Klakring; and commissioned on 20 August 1983 at Bath, Commander Leonard O. Wahlig in command.

As of 2006^[update], Klakring is homeported at NAVSTA Mayport, Florida, and is part of Destroyer Squadron 14. In March 2008 and 2009, the ship was the subject of protests in Sevastapol, Ukraine when it visited the port for five-day "friendly" visits.^[1]

Klakring participated in Operation Earnest Will in the Persian Gulf in 1987 as the first air-capable, air-embarked ship. Klakring participated in Operation Prime Chance in the Persian Gulf during the "Tanker War". Klakring is one of the surface combatants in Larry Bond's 1993 technothriller Cauldron.

[edit] References

^ The Times, "US Frigate's 'Friendly Visit' Gets A Furious Reception", March 26, 2009.

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.