USS Knox (FF-1052)

USS Knox (FF-1052)
Career (US)
Ordered:	22 July 1964
Builder:	Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington
Laid down:	5 October 1965
Launched:	19 November 1966
Acquired:	28 March 1969
Commissioned:	12 April 1969
Decommissioned:	14 February 1992
Reclassified:	As frigate (FF) 30 June 1975
Struck:	11 January 1995
Fate:	Sunk as target 7 August 2007
General characteristics
Class and type:	Knox-class frigate
Displacement:	3020 tons standard, 4163 tons full
Length:	415′ (126m) waterline 438′ (134m) overall
Beam:	47′ (14m)
Draft:	24.75′ (7.5m)
Propulsion:	2 × CE 1200psi boilers 1 Westinghouse geared turbine 1 shaft, 35,000 SHP (26 MW)
Speed:	27+ knots
Range:	4,500 miles (7,242 km)
Complement:	13 officers, 211 men
Sensors and processing systems:	•AN/SPS-10 surface search •AN/SPS-40 air search •AN/SQS-26CX sonar •AN/SQS-35 IVDS towed array sonar
Electronic warfare and decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 Electronics Warfare System
Armament:	•1 × 5″/54 gun •4 × 21″ torpedo tubes (4×1, fixed) •1 × 8-tube ASROC + Harpoon launcher •1 × 8-cell RIM-7 Sea Sparrow launcher
Aircraft carried:	1 DASH drone helicopter, later 1 SH-2 LAMPS I helicopter

For other ships of the same name, see USS Knox.

USS Knox (DE-1052/FF-1052) was the prototype and lead ship in a new class of destroyer escorts in the United States Navy. She was the second ship to be named for Commodore Dudley Wright Knox.

Knox was laid down 5 October 1965, by Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington; launched 19 November 1966; sponsored by Mrs. Peter A. Sturtevant, granddaughter of Commodore Knox; and was commissioned on 12 April 1969 with Commander William A. Lamm in command.

USS Chicago (CG-11) passes tow line to Knox after Knox was disabled by a JP-5 fire in engineering spaces on 4 March 1971 while enroute from Guam to Hawaii.

Knox performed search and rescue operations and provided evacuation, blockade, and surveillance support, when necessary, for the Pacific Fleet. In April 1975 Knox participated in Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia^[1]. Knox was redesignated a frigate on 30 June 1975 as FF-1052.

Brian Victoria alleges that the Knox was equipped with nuclear depth bombs during its time assigned to Yokosuka, Japan in violation of the security agreement between Japan and the US.^[2]

Decommissioned on 14 February 1992, Knox was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 January 1995. NAVSEA temporarily placed the Knox on the donation hold list but removed her from the list around 2003.

Knox was sunk as a target off Guam during an exercise on 7 August 2007.

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

	Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation (with two bronze service stars)
	Navy Expeditionary Medal
	National Defense Service Medal (with one bronze service star)
	Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (with one bronze service star)
	Vietnam Service Medal (with one bronze service star)
	Humanitarian Service Ribbon
	Sea Service Deployment Ribbon
	Vietnam Campaign Medal

Reference : USS Knox on NavSource.org

References

1. ^ By Sea, Air and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the war in Southeast Asia Chapter 5: The Final Curtain, 1973-1975
2. ^ Victoria, Brian A., "U.S. nuclear arms in Japan: a firsthand account", Japan Times, November 17, 2009, p. 12.

• This article includes 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.

External links

• USS Knox (DE/FF-1052) Reunion Association
• navsource.org: USS Knox
• hazegray.org: USS Knox