A moment of transition for the United States Navy this week, as the frigate USS Kaufman returned from her final patrol. That ends almost forty years of service for a class of small, tough warships that did everything from escorting aircraft carrier battle groups in the Pacific to battling pirates off Somalia and drug runners in the Caribbean. In today’s Pacific News Minute, Neal Conan remembers two weeks aboard the frigate USS Rentz during what was known as the Tanker War.
As the last of a small group of reporters jumped off a helicopter and down to the deck the Captain showed off a jack rabbit start up to more than 40 knots and full speed turns inside her own wake. During the Iran-Iraq War Rentz was part of Operation Earnest Will, where the US Navy escorted reflagged Kuwaiti tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. One of her sisters, USS Stark, lost 37 killed in an Exocet missile attack by an Iraqi jet. Another, the Samuel B Roberts, suffered 10 injuries after she struck an Iranian Mine.
On one moonlit night, Rentz covered the flank of a convoy up through the strait. As we passed beyond the range of Iran's Silkworm anti-ship missiles, the Officer of the deck looked over and cracked, "Well. Looks like we cheated death again."
Named for the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie, 51 Oliver Hazard Perry frigates served in the U.S. Navy from 1977. With the designation FFG for guided Missile Frigate, they were known as “Figs” or inevitably as they aged…”Pigs”. Taiwan, Spain and Australia constructed Perry class frigates of their own. Four of Australia's have just been refitted to fire SM-2 Standard and Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles to create a vessel that many in the U.S. navy compare favorably to the ship that's replacing the Perry's…the unloved Littoral Combat ship. Rentz…by the way, is being prepared for sale to the navy of Thailand.
