The History  of the 1070

General characteristics
NameDownes
Ordered22 July 1964
BuilderTodd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington
Laid down5 September 1968
Launched12 December 1969
Acquired29 June 1971
Commissioned28 August 1971
Decommissioned10 June 1992
Stricken11 January 1995
MottoReady Now
Nickname(s)Finest, Fastest, Fairest Frigate in the Fleet. Frigate From Hell.
FateDisposed of in support of Fleet training exercise 15 August 2003
NotesSunk at 031° 10' 01.0" North, 119° 48' 03.0" West
Class and typeKnox-class frigate
Displacement3,187 tons (4,168 full load)
Length438 ft (133.5 m)
Beam46 ft 9 in (14.2 m)
Draft24 ft 9 in (7.5 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 × CE 1,200 psi (8,300 kPa) boilers
  • 1 Westinghouse geared turbine
  • 1 shaft, 35,000 shp (26,000 kW)
Speedover 27 knots (31 mph; 50 km/h)
Range4,500 nautical miles (8,330 km) at 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Complement18 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
  • one Mk-16 8 cell missile launcher for ASROC and Harpoon missiles
  • one Mk-42 5-inch/54 caliber gun
  • Mark 46 torpedoes from four single tube launchers)
  • one NSSMS launcher for Sea Sparrow missiles, later replaced by one Phalanx CIWS, which was replaced by an NSSM Sea Sparrow
Aircraft carriedone SH-2 Seasprite (LAMPS I) helicopter