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USS Stark

Career

Laid down:

24 August 1979

Launched:

30 May 1980

Commissioned:

23 October 1982

Decommissioned:

7 May 1999

Fate:

Berthed at 7 May 1999

General Characteristics

Displacement:

3638 tons

Length:

445 ft (136 m)

Beam:

45 ft (13.7 m)

Draught:

14 ft 9 in (4.5 m)

Propulsion:

2 General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine; 41,000 shp (30,600 kW); 1 shaft, cp propeller, 325 hp (242 kW) retractable propeller pods

Speed:

29 knots (54 km/h)

Range:

Complement:

206

Armament:

1 OTO Melara 76mm/62 (single) Mk 75, 1 Vulcan Phalanx CWIS, 4 x .50 cal (12.7 mm) MGs, 4 McDonnell Douglas Harpoon missiles36 GDC Pomona Standard SM-1MR missiles, 1 Mk 13 Mod 4 launcher for both, 6 x 324mm US Mk 32 (2 triple) tubes for 46 torpedoes

USS Stark (FFG-31), twenty-third ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided-missile frigates, was named for Admiral Harold Rainsford Stark (1880-1972).

Ordered from Todd Shipyards, San Pedro, California on 23 January 1978 as part of the FY78 program, Stark was laid down 24 August 1979, launched 30 May 1980, and commissioned 23 October 1982. Decommissioned 7 May 1999 and stricken the same day, Stark is currently awaiting disposal at Naval Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, PA.

Stark (FFG-31) was the first ship of that name in the US Navy.

The Stark was deployed to the Middle East Force in 1984 and 1987. She is remembered for the incident of May 17, 1987 when she was struck by two Exocet missiles from an Iraqi Mirage fighter during the Iran-Iraq War. The fighter had taken off from Shaibah at 20:00 and had flown south into the Persian Gulf. Shortly after being routinely challenged by the frigate at around 22:10 the fighter fired two Exocet ASM missiles. The frigate did not detect the missile attack and both missiles struck without warning. The first hit the port-side hull and left a three metre by four metre gash when it exploded in crew quarters; the second missile hit the superstructure of the frigate. Thirty-seven crew were killed and twenty-one were injured. The frigate was afire but this was brought under control during the night and the ship returned to Bahrain under her own power. $142 million was spent repairing the vessel.

The Stark was part of the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic Fleet in 1990 before returning to the Middle East Force in 1991. She was attached to Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate |- |align="center"|United States Navy |- |align=center| Oliver Hazard Perry | McInerney | Wadsworth | Duncan | Clark | George Philip | Samuel Eliot Morison | Sides | Estocin | Clifton Sprague | John A. Moore | Antrim | Flatley | Fahrion | Lewis B. Puller | Jack Williams | Copeland | Gallery | Mahlon S. Tisdale | Boone | Stephen W. Groves | Reid | Stark | John L. Hall | Jarrett | Aubrey Fitch | Underwood | Crommelin | Curts | Doyle | Halyburton | McClusky | Klakring | Thach | Dewert | Rentz | Nicholas | Vandegrift | Robert G. Bradley | Taylor | Gary | Carr | Hawes | Ford | Elrod | Simpson | Reuben James | Samuel B. Roberts | Kauffman | Rodney M. Davis | Ingraham |- |align="center"|Royal Australian Navy |- |align="center"| Adelaide | Canberra | Sydney | Darwin | Melbourne | Newcastle |- |align="center"|Armada Española |- |align="center"|Santa Maria | Victoria | Numancia | Reina Sofia | Navarra | Canarias |- |align="center"|Republic of China Navy |- |align="center"|Cheung Kung | Cheng Ho | Chi Kuang | Yueh Fei | Tzu I | Pan Chao | Chang Chien | Tian Dan |- |align=center|
List of frigates of the United States Navy |}