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USS Kirk (FF 1087)

USS KIRK was the 36^th KNOX - class frigate. Decommissioned on August 6, 1993, the KIRK was leased to Taiwan the same day. There she was recommissioned as FEN YANG. The KIRK was stricken from the Navy list on January 11, 1995. On September 29, 1999, the ship was finally purchased by Taiwan.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS KIRK. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents aboard USS KIRK:

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About the Ship's Name:

Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 30, 1888. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1909 and entered a naval career that spanned the First World War, the interwar years, and the Second World War. During his early service, he gained experience in fleet, staff, and intelligence assignments, and from 1939 to 1941 he served as U.S. naval attache in London, a position that placed him close to British naval planning during the opening phase of the Second World War. In March 1941, he became Director of Naval Intelligence, and later requested sea duty after finding the Washington intelligence environment difficult and restrictive.

Kirk's most important wartime service came in amphibious warfare. In 1942 and 1943, he held senior command roles in the Mediterranean and was involved in Allied amphibious operations connected with the invasions of Sicily and Italy. In June 1944, he commanded the Western Naval Task Force during Operation Neptune, the naval phase of the Normandy invasion. Embarked in the heavy cruiser USS AUGUSTA (CA 31), he directed the American naval force that supported the landings at Omaha and Utah beaches on June 6, 1944. Later in 1944 and 1945, he served as Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, France. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 1946 with the rank of admiral.

After leaving naval service, Kirk entered diplomacy. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium and, concurrently, as U.S. Minister to Luxembourg from 1946 to 1949. He then served as U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1949 to 1951, during the early Cold War and the beginning of the Korean War. In 1952, he briefly headed the American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia and also served as Director of the Psychological Strategy Board. His final diplomatic post was as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of China on Taiwan from 1962 to January 1963, a post he left because of declining health.

Alan Goodrich Kirk died on October 15, 1963, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

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USS KIRK History:

USS KIRK was a KNOX-class destroyer escort and frigate of the United States Navy. The building contract for USS KIRK was awarded to Avondale Shipyards, Inc., on August 25, 1966. Her keel was laid at Westwego, Louisiana, on December 4, 1970. She was launched on September 25, 1971, sponsored by Mrs. Lydia C. Kirk, Admiral Kirk's widow. The ship was acquired by the Navy on August 27, 1972, and commissioned at Long Beach, California, on September 9, 1972, with Commander James P. Kvederis in command. She entered service as USS KIRK (DE 1087), assigned to the Pacific Fleet and initially associated with Destroyer Squadron 23 at San Diego.

USS KIRK's first months were spent in the usual post-commissioning pattern of trials, fitting out, shakedown, and fleet introduction. In November 1972, she made her maiden voyage to Vancouver, British Columbia. On February 9, 1973, she was photographed off Oahu, Hawaii, during the early phase of her operational training. Commander Harold E. Burgess Jr. relieved Commander Kvederis on August 17, 1973. On November 23, 1973, USS KIRK departed San Diego in company with USS KITTY HAWK (CVA 63) for her first Western Pacific deployment. That deployment placed the new destroyer escort into the Cold War pattern for which she had been built: escorting and screening a carrier, conducting anti-submarine warfare training, and operating in distant waters where U.S. naval presence supported regional stability after the end of direct American combat operations in Vietnam. During the cruise, USS KIRK escorted USS KITTY HAWK during 60 days of Indian Ocean operations. Her 1973-1974 cruise book record places the ship in the Philippines, at Karachi, Pakistan, after 35 days in the Indian Ocean, and at Singapore during the deployment. She returned to San Diego on June 1, 1974. Commander Paul H. Jacobs relieved Commander Burgess on August 29, 1974.

USS KIRK's second Western Pacific deployment began on March 4, 1975, when she departed San Diego for what started as a normal overseas cruise but became one of the most historically significant deployments of any KNOX-class ship. By the spring of 1975, the Vietnam War was entering its final phase. North Vietnamese forces were advancing rapidly, the South Vietnamese state was collapsing, and U.S. forces in the Western Pacific were positioned for possible evacuations from Cambodia and South Vietnam. During the evacuation period from March 25 to May 7, 1975, USS KIRK participated in the wider Seventh Fleet effort that included Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of Phnom Penh on April 12, and Operation Frequent Wind, the final evacuation of Saigon on April 29 and April 30. In early April, she operated with the force centered on USS HANCOCK (CVA 19), which had exchanged much of her normal air group at Pearl Harbor for Marine helicopters in preparation for evacuation operations. USS KIRK arrived in the Gulf of Thailand on April 11 as the U.S. force prepared for the evacuation of Phnom Penh. Operation Eagle Pull was completed on April 12, but events in South Vietnam were deteriorating more quickly than had been expected.

By mid-April 1975, USS KIRK and other units of the evacuation force moved through Singapore as the crisis around Saigon intensified. A port visit there was abruptly cut short, and units of Task Force 76 and other Seventh Fleet forces converged off South Vietnam. On April 29, 1975, as North Vietnamese forces closed on Saigon and Tan Son Nhut Air Base came under heavy attack, U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin ordered the final evacuation of the capital. Operation Frequent Wind began, using helicopters to move official evacuees from the U.S. Embassy compound and the Defense Attache Office compound to ships offshore. USS KIRK patrolled her assigned defensive area off Vung Tau near the mouth of the Saigon River, while American helicopters shuttled between the coast and the evacuation fleet.

The evacuation soon became more complicated than the formal plan had anticipated. South Vietnamese Air Force aircrews, often flying overloaded UH-1 Huey helicopters with family members and other refugees aboard, headed out to sea on their own initiative. Many of those aircraft were low on fuel, damaged, or without a clear destination. USS KIRK's small flight deck was not designed for a mass helicopter evacuation, but the ship became an improvised receiving platform for South Vietnamese aircraft. During the evacuation, USS KIRK safely recovered sixteen South Vietnamese UH-1 helicopters over two days. By midnight of the first day, twelve UH-1s had landed aboard with 157 refugees. By the end of the episode, the total had grown to sixteen UH-1s recovered aboard, one South Vietnamese CH-47 Chinook ditched alongside after its passengers had been taken aboard, and one U.S. Marine Corps AH-1J Cobra ditched nearby after running out of fuel. USS KIRK sheltered nearly 200 Vietnamese refugees and two U.S. Marine pilots during this phase. Because there was no room to keep the South Vietnamese helicopters aboard, they were unloaded and then pushed over the side to clear the flight deck for the next aircraft. The CH-47 episode was especially difficult: the large helicopter hovered near the ship while passengers jumped or were helped down to the deck, after which the pilot ditched the aircraft in the sea and was rescued. The U.S. Marine Corps AH-1J Cobra crew was also recovered after their aircraft went into the water near the ship. Through this improvised process, USS KIRK became both a flight-deck refuge and a temporary shelter during the last hours of South Vietnam.

USS KIRK's 1975 mission did not end with the departure from Saigon. On the evening of April 30, 1975, she was ordered alongside USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC 19) to embark Richard L. Armitage, a civilian on special assignment from the Secretary of Defense and a former naval officer with experience in Vietnam. USS KIRK was then sent back toward the Vietnamese coast to help prevent the remaining Republic of Vietnam Navy from falling into the hands of the new Communist authorities and to lead as much of that force as possible to safety. On May 1, 1975, USS KIRK reached the area of Con Son Island, where she found a chaotic concentration of South Vietnamese naval vessels, fishing craft, and other ships crowded with refugees. Many vessels were mechanically unreliable or overloaded; others were unfit to make the passage. USS KIRK's crew, working with Armitage and Vietnamese naval personnel, helped determine which ships could proceed, assisted with repairs, provided organization, and supported the transfer of people from vessels that could not continue.

On May 2, 1975, a formation of 32 former South Vietnamese naval vessels began the voyage of about 1,000 miles from Con Son Island toward Subic Bay in the Philippines, with USS KIRK acting as a key escort and organizing ship. The passage became part of Operation New Life. The convoy carried tens of thousands of refugees, including naval personnel, families, and civilians who had escaped the fall of South Vietnam. USS KIRK assisted with communications, repairs, medical support, fresh water, food, and ship handling during the transit. At one point, a badly overloaded vessel became a major concern, and refugees had to be transferred under difficult conditions. Weapons and ammunition on the former South Vietnamese ships were neutralized or thrown overboard so that the ships could be accepted into Philippine waters. On May 7, 1975, after Philippine permission had been arranged, the Republic of Vietnam flags were lowered, the U.S. flag was raised temporarily over the ships, and the formation entered Subic Bay. The mission brought more than 30,000 refugees to safety. USS KIRK later received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and the Meritorious Unit Commendation for her role in the evacuation and refugee operations. On June 30, 1975, while her post-Vietnam cruise was still part of her current service record, the Navy reclassified destroyer escorts as frigates, and USS KIRK became USS KIRK (FF 1087). She returned to San Diego on October 4, 1975.

After the 1975 deployment, USS KIRK prepared for a major change in her operating pattern. On July 17, 1976, she departed San Diego for the Western Pacific and was reassigned to Destroyer Squadron 15 at Yokosuka, Japan. Her move placed her among the forward-deployed Seventh Fleet surface combatants based in Japan, shortening response times to crises in Northeast Asia and the Western Pacific. After arriving in August 1976, USS KIRK was sent to patrol Korean waters following the August 1976 crisis along the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The situation on the peninsula remained tense, and U.S. naval forces in the region were used to reinforce deterrence and readiness. On September 6, 1976, while returning to Yokosuka, USS KIRK steamed through Typhoon Carol. In October, she began a needed upkeep period after the tempo of her transfer and regional patrol operations.

USS KIRK began a major overhaul in January 1977 and moved into dry dock 5 on January 9 for seven months of work. The overhaul marked an important transition from early service and emergency response work toward a longer forward-deployed career in Seventh Fleet. In August 1977, she received the Meritorious Unit Commendation for her 1975 service in Operation Frequent Wind and the evacuation of Vietnamese refugees. Commander James H. Langen had relieved Commander Jacobs on July 10, 1976, and Commander Fletcher J. Barnes III relieved Commander Langen on August 12, 1977. After the overhaul, the first months of 1978 were devoted to post-overhaul training and inspections at Subic Bay. Later in 1978, USS KIRK got underway for a three-month Indian Ocean deployment. During that deployment, she became the first U.S. Navy ship to visit Taichung, Taiwan, calling there from August 25 to August 27, 1978. She subsequently got underway to participate in Readex 1-79 with Task Group 77.4 and the battle group centered on USS MIDWAY (CV 41) from September 21 to October 2, 1978.

In September 1979, USS KIRK received important combat-system improvements, including installation of the Harpoon missile system and AN/SQR-18A TACTAS sonar. The Harpoon upgrade gave the frigate an anti-surface missile capability, while the towed-array sonar improved her long-range anti-submarine detection role. Commander Richard C. Davis relieved Commander Barnes on September 7, 1979. From January 1 to January 19, 1980, while in port at Yokosuka, USS KIRK remained in dry dock for work on her sonar dome. From February 3 to February 12, she conducted anti-submarine warfare operations in the South China Sea. In early July 1980, she steamed with Task Group 70.1 for a four-month Indian Ocean deployment lasting from July 14 to November 26. This was a period of heightened U.S. concern in the Indian Ocean and northern Arabian Sea, shaped by the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, the continuing Iran hostage crisis, Soviet military activity, and the broader Cold War contest for influence around the approaches to the Persian Gulf.

On February 23, 1981, USS KIRK departed Yokosuka with USS MIDWAY for her fourth deployment and her second Indian Ocean deployment within a year. She operated in the northern Arabian Sea and took part in Exercise Indo Gonzo 81-3 from April 14 to April 18 alongside Australian naval forces. The exercise demonstrated the continuing allied importance of sea-control, anti-submarine, and task-group operations in the Indian Ocean. USS KIRK returned to Yokosuka on June 5, 1981. Soon afterward, she got underway for the major Seventh Fleet Exercise Multiplex 81-4 from July 9 to July 14. Later that year, she received orders to get underway and rendezvous with Task Group 70.1 in response to a possible North Korean threat to South Korea. The threat did not develop into a crisis, and USS KIRK returned to Yokosuka on December 19, 1981.

On January 18, 1982, USS KIRK entered dry dock to begin a baseline overhaul that lasted until November 15. The work formed part of the Navy's effort to maintain the forward-deployed KNOX-class frigates as effective anti-submarine platforms in the Western Pacific. After completing the overhaul, USS KIRK made her way to Subic Bay to begin training exercises and an ammunition on-load at Moor Nabasan Wharf on December 15, 1982, then returned to Yokosuka for the holiday stand-down. Commander Edmund L. Pratt Jr. relieved Commander Davis on December 10, 1982. USS KIRK resumed regional operations in 1983. She got underway to participate in Exercise Team Spirit 83 at Chinhae, South Korea, on March 18, 1983. Team Spirit was a major U.S.-South Korean exercise intended to strengthen combined readiness and deterrence on the Korean peninsula. After refresher training beginning April 18, USS KIRK joined the battle group centered on USS CORAL SEA (CV 43) to assist in anti-submarine warfare exercises.

On November 21, 1983, while operating in the South China Sea during Typhoon Orchid, USS KIRK rescued 23 survivors from the 25-person crew of the Taiwanese merchant ship DAI LUNG after that vessel took on water in rough seas and sank. Two members of DAI LUNG's crew were lost. During the same rescue operation, the ship's LAMPS helicopter suffered a serious flight-deck mishap after returning from locating DAI LUNG. The helicopter, operating as Sea Snake 19, had been involved in the search-and-rescue effort and returned to USS KIRK in heavy seas. While it was being secured on the flight deck, the ship rolled heavily, the aircraft tipped over, and the helicopter was put out of commission. One crewman was injured.

Commander James F. Giblin Jr. relieved Commander Pratt on January 4, 1984. In January 1984, USS KIRK departed Subic Bay for workups in the South China Sea. On April 16, she joined Battle Group Alpha, centered on USS MIDWAY, in the North Arabian Sea. She crossed the equator on April 19. During the cruise, the ship spent 110 consecutive days at sea and conducted operations with the Royal Navy, the Royal Omani Air Force, the Royal Malaysian Navy, and the French Navy. Her only documented port visits during that long operating period were Singapore from April 24 to April 28 and Pattaya, Thailand, from May 1 to May 7. She returned to Yokosuka in late June 1984.

In 1985, USS KIRK again operated in a demanding Cold War setting. From April 4 to April 18, she conducted surveillance operations of the Soviet NOVOROSSIYSK battle group. The aircraft carrier NOVOROSSIYSK was one of the Soviet Navy's KIEV-class aviation cruisers, and monitoring Soviet surface groups was a routine but important element of U.S. and allied naval activity in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. In May 1985, USS KIRK participated in an ASROC firing exercise. Commander Stanton V. Mahoney Jr. relieved Commander Giblin on June 23, 1985. On June 24, while getting underway from Subic Bay, a rogue wave struck the frigate's bow, injuring seven personnel and forcing the ship to return to port for medical assistance. Commander Emil R. Diamond Jr. relieved Commander Mahoney on August 3, 1985. During the summer and fall, USS KIRK transited through the Strait of Malacca to the North Arabian Sea and operated with Battle Group Alpha. On July 13, she recovered Lieutenant Commander J. M. Twiss, a downed LTV A-7 Corsair II pilot from USS MIDWAY. Six days later, she conducted a medical evacuation of a seriously ill Burmese seaman from the merchant vessel TOMOE 305. From December 8 to December 11, 1985, USS KIRK participated in ASWEX 85-1J, a joint anti-submarine warfare exercise with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

USS KIRK spent the first months of 1986 in upkeep before weapons and ammunition on-loads and sea trials in April. In July, she conducted a Firex 1 gunnery exercise. On August 15, 1986, she rescued 11 Vietnamese refugees from an adrift fishing boat in the South China Sea. The rescue was part of the broader maritime context of the postwar Vietnamese boat people crisis, in which naval and merchant vessels frequently encountered refugees in small, unsafe craft. During the rest of 1986, USS KIRK operated off Japan in various training cycles. In 1987, she continued her forward-deployed work from Yokosuka. From July 2 to July 6, 1987, during a port visit to the Sultanate of Brunei, USS KIRK became only the third U.S. warship to visit that small state on the island of Borneo since 1845. Commander Larry W. Darling relieved Commander Diamond on August 5, 1987. On October 1, 1987, USS KIRK was photographed at sea with ships of the battle group centered on USS MIDWAY. Photographic evidence from the same general period also places USS MIDWAY under escort by USS KIRK and HMS BRAZEN, with USS FRANCIS HAMMOND (FF 1067) and another Royal Navy ship nearby during Indian Ocean exercises.

USS KIRK remained at Yokosuka through the beginning of 1988, completing sea trials before getting underway for Exercise Team Spirit 88 from March 25 to March 29. On June 21, 1988, shortly before Typhoon Vanessa affected the South China Sea region, USS KIRK rescued nine Vietnamese refugees approximately 300 nautical miles east of Ho Chi Minh City. In July 1988, she departed Yokosuka and shifted back toward the United States, ending her long forward-deployed period in Japan. On August 6, she changed operational command to the Third Fleet while underway for the U.S. West Coast. Her transit included a port visit to Honolulu from August 12 to August 17 and a stop at Long Beach from August 18 to August 24. She then arrived at San Francisco, where she was present from September 22 to September 25. A day later, she departed to participate in law-enforcement operations with embarked U.S. Coast Guard detachments, reflecting the growing use of Navy ships in support of counter-drug surveillance and interdiction in the Eastern Pacific. USS KIRK also took part in San Francisco's Fleet Week celebrations from October 15 to October 19, then returned to her new homeport at Long Beach and joined Destroyer Squadron 9.

USS KIRK's 1989 schedule was dominated by Eastern Pacific anti-submarine training and overhaul preparation. From February 26 to March 6, 1989, she participated in the year's first Eastern Pacific anti-submarine warfare exercise, ASWOP 89-1. She then steamed north to San Francisco and Seattle and operated with the Royal Canadian Navy and various U.S. naval warships during ASWOP 89-2 from May 25 to June 5. On June 11, 1989, she was photographed inbound for a port visit to Vancouver, British Columbia. On July 6, 1989, USS KIRK entered an overhaul period at Todd Shipyards in Seattle, which lasted until March 2, 1990. Commander Thomas M. Keithly relieved Commander Darling on September 30, 1989. After leaving Todd Shipyards, USS KIRK conducted sea trials from March 3 to March 5, 1990, then steamed to Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay before returning to Long Beach for upkeep. Recurrent equipment malfunctions in October 1990 caused repeated delays in her deployment schedule. Finally, on December 3, 1990, she got underway from Long Beach for Panama. During the transit, she stopped in Guatemala for fuel and became the first U.S. naval warship to refuel at Puerto Quetzal.

USS KIRK spent Christmas 1990 in Panama and New Year's Day 1991 underway off Guatemala, conducting surface and air surveillance for narcotics-trafficking groups. From January 1 to January 11, 1991, she conducted counter-narcotics operations off South America, then made a short port visit to Puerto Quetzal from January 12 to January 14. After a month of upkeep at Long Beach, USS KIRK served as plane guard for USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) from February 25 to February 26. Later in the year, she served as plane guard for USS INDEPENDENCE (CV 62) from May 28 to June 4. Her summer port visits included Anchorage, Alaska, from June 27 to July 3, Seattle from July 3 to July 7, and Esquimalt, British Columbia, from August 6 to August 9. She then made way to Hawaii from August 23 to August 28, visited Pearl Harbor from August 28 to August 29, and returned home for further work, including sea trials from December 12 to December 13. Commander John B. Bell relieved Commander Keithly on November 1, 1991.

USS KIRK spent the first four months of 1992 in port at Long Beach, then got underway for Computex 92-4E off Southern California from May 18 to May 22. The exercise formed part of her preparation for another Western Pacific and Middle East deployment. On August 1, 1992, she got underway with the battle group centered on USS RANGER (CV 61) for Yokosuka, arriving in the Western Pacific after a transit that lasted until August 17. She visited Pusan, South Korea, from August 26 to August 29. A scheduled stop at Singapore was cancelled because of increased tensions in the Middle East, and USS KIRK steamed directly toward the Arabian Gulf. During the transit, she narrowly avoided Typhoons Polly and Omar, but storm damage to her sea-surface search radar required a brief repair stop at Bahrain on September 15. After that repair stop, USS KIRK joined USS KINKAID (DD 965) at Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, for Exercise Nautical Swimmer from September 19 to September 23 with the Royal Saudi Navy.

The 1992 Gulf deployment placed USS KIRK in the post-Desert Storm security environment, when U.S. and coalition naval forces continued to operate around the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, and approaches to Kuwait and Iraq. On October 5 and October 6, 1992, USS KIRK participated in Exercise Saqr Al Bahr with USS TAYLOR (FFG 50). She then began two weeks of at-sea operations in the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Gulf. During this period, she also operated with the British battle group centered on HMS INVINCIBLE, which was in the midst of a round-the-world cruise. On November 2 and November 3, USS KIRK became a last-minute addition to Exercise Eager Sentry 93-1, joining USS PAUL F. FOSTER (DD 964) off Kuwait. After a five-day port visit to Muscat, Oman, she steamed to the northern coast of Africa and then back to the Arabian Gulf from November 15 to November 20. After a brief maintenance period in Bahrain from December 5 to December 10, she transited the Strait of Hormuz en route to Geraldton, Australia. She returned to Long Beach in early 1993. In January 1993, she was photographed in the Pacific while a UH-46 Sea Knight helicopter lowered an external cargo load to her deck, a routine but representative example of the underway logistics work that supported long Pacific and Indian Ocean deployments.

USS KIRK was decommissioned at Naval Station Long Beach on August 6, 1993, after 20 years and 11 months of U.S. Navy service. After decommissioning, she was leased to the Republic of China Navy on Taiwan and renamed ROCS FEN YANG (FFG-934). She was struck from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register on January 11, 1995, and sold to Taiwan on September 29, 1999.

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