USS O'Callahan

History
United States
Name	O'Callahan
Namesake	Joseph T. O'Callahan
Ordered	21 March 1963
Builder	Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan
Laid down	19 February 1964
Launched	20 October 1965
Acquired	1 July 1968
Commissioned	13 July 1968
Decommissioned	20 December 1988
Stricken	29 November 1993
Motto	Faithful and Brave
Fate	Sold to Trusha Investments Pte. Ltd, c/o Jacques Pierot, Jr. & Sons, Inc., of New York City for over $600,000. Scrapped in Hong Kong.
Pakistan
Name	Aslat
Acquired	8 February 1989 (leased)
Out of service	11 December 1993
Identification	F265
Fate	Returned to US, 11 December 1993
General characteristics
Class and type	Garcia-class frigate
Displacement	2,624 tons (light) 3,400 tons full
Length	414 ft 6 in (126.34 m)
Beam	44 ft 1 in (13.44 m)
Draft	24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Propulsion	2 Foster-Wheeler boilers, 1 General Electric turbine, 35,000 shp (26,000 kW), single screw
Speed	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range	4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	16 officers 231 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems	AN/SPS-40 air search radar AN/SPS-10 surface search radar AN/SQS-26 bow mounted sonar
Armament	2 × single 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. Mk 30 guns 1 × 8-tube ASROC Mk 16 launcher (16 missiles) 2 × triple 12.75 in (324 mm) Mk 32 torpedo tubes, Mk 46 torpedoes 2 × MK 37 torpedo tubes (fixed, stern) (removed later)
Aircraft carried	Gyrodyne QH-50 (planned) / SH-2 LAMPS

USS O'Callahan (FF-1051) was a U.S. Navy Garcia-class destroyer escort, later reclassified as a frigate. She was named for Chaplain Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O'Callahan, a World War II Medal of Honor recipient for his rescue of crewmen on the aircraft carrier Franklin after it was hit and severely damaged by enemy bombs.

History

O'Callahan was laid down on 19 February 1964 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan and was launched on 20 October 1965. She was sponsored by Chaplain O'Callahan's sister, Sister Rose Marie O'Callahan of the Philippines Maryknoll College, the first nun to sponsor a U.S. Navy ship. She was commissioned on 13 July 1968 at the Boston Naval Shipyard, Boston, Massachusetts, with Captain Robert L. Brown commanding.

On 16 August 1968, after her fitting-out at Boston, O'Callahan departed for her homeport of San Diego, California. En route she called at Norfolk, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She stood out of San Diego on 1 October for 25 days of electronics and weapons systems tests off the Pacific Northwest, then commenced shakedown on 4 November. After at-sea training operations off the Hawaiian Islands from 6 through 17 February 1969, she entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 4 March for post-shakedown availability through mid-May. She then conducted further training operations out of San Diego in preparation for her first deployment to the Western Pacific.

Former Brooke (right) and O'Callahan (left) during service with Pakistan.

[1969-1989]

On 30 June 1975 O'Callahan was reclassified as a frigate and given the designation FF-1051.

Pakistan service

For other ships with the same name, see PNS Aslat.

O'Callahan served until 31 May 1989, when she was decommissioned and leased to Pakistan. However, following Pakistan's refusal to halt its nuclear weapons program, the lease was cancelled in 1994. She was returned to United States custody at Singapore on 19 August 1994 and stricken from the Navy Register the same day. On 9 September she was transferred to the Maritime Administration and sold to Trusha Investments Pte. Ltd, c/o Jacques Pierot, Jr. & Sons, Inc., of New York City for over $600,000. She was then towed to Hong Kong and scrapped.

References

• K. Jack Bauer and Stephen S. Roberts, Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990
• Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995
•  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.