6 January 2013. Period caption: “Guided-missile frigate USS Halyburton (FFG 40) transits the Gulf of Aden. Halyburton is deployed with Commander, Task Group 508, promoting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility.” (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jamar X. Perry/Released)
We’ve talked about the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard in Erie, Pennsylvania, and their half-decade-long effort to secure one of the 7 long-decommissioned FFG-7 class frigates currently stored at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships facility at Philadelphia.
The vessel they were looking to acquire, ex-USS Halyburton (FFG-40) has been in storage since 2014 and is the most complete of her class in mothballs, having been on donation hold.
Well, it looks like that isn’t going to happen.
From the museum, repeated in whole for posterity should their site disappear.
November 25, 2024: United States Navy Declines OHPS Phase II Application For Donation of USS Halyburton (FFG-40)
U.S. Navy has declined the Phase II application of the USS Halyburton (FFG-40) to the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard. The U.S. Navy listed several reasons for the decision including additional funding on hand, the first 5 years of operating expenditures, and a long-term lease with the Western Erie Port Authority. These were several of the items that the Navy wanted to see more concrete information about.
This is the end of the nearly 6-year-long journey to bring an Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate to Erie, Pennsylvania. “This is a sad day for the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard and the many Navy veterans who served on the Perry Class Frigates. For the past 5 years, our efforts to bring the USS Halyburton (FFG-40) to Erie have been rigorous and diligent. We have exhausted all available avenues with the Navy and now we have brought the project to an end.” said Dr. Joe Pfadt Chief Executive Officer of the Oliver Hazard Perry Shipyard.
“We gave it our best effort but came up short. This was a long and very detailed process,” said Pfadt. There are no other known plans on the part of the Navy to release a Perry Class Frigate for historic display anywhere else in the country. The USS Halyburton (FFG-40) will most likely be reduced to scrap or used as a target ship and sunk by the Navy.
Of the 51 former USN FFG-7s (another 20 were built for Australia, Spain, and Taiwan), one was sold/transferred to Pakistan, two each went to Poland, Taiwan, and Bahrain (the last just arriving at its new home early this year after a $150 million update), four to Egypt, and eight to Turkey. Of the rest, 12 were sunk as targets, and 13 were scrapped.
The handful that is left in Philly only escaped the cull as they were typically on hold for potential foreign military sale, with Mexico, Thailand, Greece, and Ukraine all mentioned as possible end users but those transfers never materialized, leaving them often open for plunder by the active Navy, foreign governments operating their sisters, and the Coast Guard for useable gear including turbines, Mk 75/38 mounts, CIWS systems, gun control panels, barrels, junction boxes, and other components– meaning they are far less than ideal for use as a museum ship and will more than likely be bound for SINKEXs.
For the record, besides Halyburton, Philly also holds the late flight “long hull” FFG7s ex-USS Klakring (FFG-42), De Wert (FFG 45), Carr (FFG 52), Elrod (FFG 55), Simpson (FFG 56), and Kaufman (FFG 59).
That means, unless a second-hand frigate can be “acquired” from Egypt, Turkey, Poland, Taiwan, or Bahrain by some veterans group at some point in the future once those countries are done with them (it happened before, that’s how USS Orleck and Slater made it over here, purchased privately from Turkey and Greece, respectively), that’s a wrap for the class in U.S. waters.
Perhaps a CG-47 class cruiser could be preserved instead. The time to get started on such an effort would be now.
At this point, there hasn’t been a “new” museum ship put on display since Iowa opened to the public in 2012.