Circa 1976: Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate FFG 7 trials via Bath
The OHPs were probably one of the most un-celebrated Cold War veterans, with 51 hulls being literally everywhere from 1977 through 2015 and their loss has been keenly felt in the fleet for the past decade. Importantly, class members USS Stark and USS Samuel B. Roberts were against-all-odds fighting survivors from the Persian Gulf whose stories deserve to be remembered.
Now it seems like a group is moving to preserve one still in MARAD hands, ex-USS Halyburton (FFG-40), which has been in mothballs at Philadelphia since 2014 and isn’t getting any younger.
Dubbed the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard of Erie, Pennsylvania, the group aims to moor FFG-40 permanently as a floating museum– which is a good tie-in to class namesake Oliver Hazard Perry who won the Battle of Lake Erie in the area during the War of 1812.
Phase one of the Navy’s three-step donation process has been completed and phase two is underway, with local media reporting:
“In some ways it’s not a museum ship, it’s a display ship. and the opportunity for anyone, veterans, people interested in the Navy, people just interested in STEM. This would just be a wonderful asset for the city,” said RADM Robert D. Reilly Jr., USN.
Reilly said $2 million in pledges have already been secured and the erie community foundation has selected the project for a $250,000 grant.