Frigate to be decommissioned

When USS Simpson (FFG 56) decommissions Sept. 29 at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., the Navy will be left with only one active frigate on the books – the 218-year-old USS Constitution. Simpson, the last active Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate – or “Fig 7” - is being prepared for decommissioning prior to being sold through the Foreign Military Sales program. Previously, the U.S. has sold frigates - including the Pensacola, Fla.-decommissioned USS Jesse L. Brown - to Bahrain, Egypt, Poland, Turkey and Pakistan. The Coast Guard has been harvesting weapons system components - at a current cost savings of $24M - from decommissioned frigates for its Famous-class cutters. Some of those components include MK 75, 76 mm/62 caliber gun mounts, launchers, and junction boxes. (Source: NNS, 08/19/15) Gulf Coast note: Lt. Cmdr. Casey Roskelly became the new commanding officer of FFG 56 during a change of command ceremony July 17. Roskelly earned his commission from Officer Candidate School in March 2000 at Pensacola, Fla. Frigates are being replaced by redesigned Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) that will be called new frigates. Currently, the Independence class LCS is built at Austal USA's shipyards in Mobile, Ala.