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USS Miller (FF 1091)

USS MILLER was the 40^th KNOX - class frigate and the first ship in the Navy named after Cook Third Class Doris Miller, USN. Decommissioned on October 15, 1991, and stricken from the Navy list on January 11, 1995, the MILLER was given to Turkey on July 19, 1999. There she was used as parts hulk until sunk as a target in 2001.

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Crew List:

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

• Click here to view the list.

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• Click here to see which USS MILLER memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS MILLER Cruise Books:

• STANAVFORLANT Cruise Book 1977

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About the Ship's Name:

Doris ("Dorie") Miller was born in Waco, Texas, on 12 October 1919. He enlisted in the Navy in September 1939 as a Mess Attendant Third Class. On 7 December 1941, while serving aboard USS WEST VIRGINIA (BB 48), he distinguished himself by courageous conduct and devotion to duty during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions on this occasion.

Doris Miller served aboard USS INDIANAPOLIS (CA 35) from December 1941 to May 1943. He was then assigned to the escort carrier LISCOME BAY (CVE 56). Cook Third Class Miller was lost with that ship when she was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on 24 November 1943, during the invasion of the Gilbert Islands.

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USS MILLER History:

USS MILLER (DE 1091), later USS MILLER (FF 1091), was a KNOX-class ocean escort and frigate named for Cook Third Class Doris "Dorie" Miller, the United States Navy sailor who received the Navy Cross for his actions aboard USS WEST VIRGINIA during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The contract for USS MILLER was awarded to Avondale Shipyards on August 25, 1966. She was laid down at Avondale Shipyards at Westwego, Louisiana, on August 6, 1971, and launched on June 3, 1972. Her launch took place at the Avondale yard on the Mississippi River, after which she entered the fitting-out, trials, and acceptance phase that prepared her for Atlantic Fleet service.

USS MILLER was commissioned at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on June 30, 1973, with Lieutenant Commander Lynn P. Blasch in command. The commissioning ceremony had special public and symbolic importance because of the ship's namesake. Doris Miller's mother, Henrietta Miller, and members of his family were present, and the ceremony also included senior Navy and civilian guests, among them Representative Barbara Jordan of Texas and Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs James E. Johnson.

During the second half of 1973, USS MILLER moved through the normal early-life sequence of post-commissioning trials, training, corrections, and integration into the Atlantic Fleet. On May 20, 1974, USS MILLER was photographed underway off Cape Henry, Virginia. During 1974, she continued training and readiness work in the western Atlantic. From September 23 to October 10, 1974, she conducted her first annual readiness exercise, LANTREDEX 1-75. This exercise included fleet maneuvers, missile exercises, and antisubmarine-warfare training. Such work was central to the KNOX-class mission: the ship had to operate with other surface units, maintain station in tactical formations, practice weapons procedures, and prove her ability to search for and engage submarines in coordinated fleet operations. The exercise also shows that USS MILLER had moved beyond basic post-commissioning work into evaluated Atlantic Fleet readiness training.

During the mid-1970s, USS MILLER entered the overseas operating pattern typical of Atlantic Fleet KNOX-class frigates, including Mediterranean and northern European service. These deployments placed her in maritime areas shaped by Cold War naval competition, NATO sea-lane planning, Soviet submarine activity, and the United States Navy's requirement to maintain forward presence in European waters. On June 30, 1975, during the Navy-wide redesignation of ships, she was reclassified from DE 1091 to FF 1091.

In July 1976, USS MILLER is photographically documented at La Rochelle, France, specifically at La Pallice. An SH-2F Seasprite of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 32 was visible on her flight deck in imagery from that visit, which is consistent with her LAMPS helicopter role. This documented French port call confirms her presence in northern European waters during the mid-1970s. Other public summaries identify her active-fleet service as including deployments to the Mediterranean, northern Europe, the Persian Gulf, and the Black Sea.

In 1977, USS MILLER served with Standing Naval Force Atlantic. This NATO force was a permanent multinational naval formation intended to demonstrate allied maritime presence, maintain interoperability, and train continuously in antisubmarine warfare, replenishment, communications, and surface operations. A dedicated 1977 cruise book exists for USS MILLER's Standing Naval Force Atlantic cruise, and surviving references connect the ship's deployment with allied ships, including HNLMS VAN GALEN. Image records from the same period show USS MILLER in the Standing Naval Force Atlantic context during the summer of 1977. This deployment placed her in the North Atlantic and northern European maritime environment, where NATO forces practiced the defense of sea lines of communication and the reinforcement of Europe in a possible Cold War crisis.

During 1978 and 1979, she remained an active Atlantic Fleet frigate and continued the normal cycle of maintenance, inspections, local operations, antisubmarine exercises, and overseas preparation. This was a period of increasing strategic concern for the United States Navy. The Iranian Revolution in 1979, the seizure of the United States Embassy hostages in Tehran on November 4, 1979, and Soviet activity in the Indian Ocean all made the Middle East and adjacent sea routes more important to American naval planning. On November 9, 1979, USS MILLER departed on a six-month cruise to the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf. This deployment was one of the most significant operational periods in her active career. It placed her in the Sixth Fleet area and then in the wider Middle East operating environment at a time of sharp regional tension. The United States was responding to the Iranian hostage crisis, monitoring instability around the Persian Gulf, and maintaining naval options in the Indian Ocean. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 further increased the strategic importance of naval access to the Arabian Sea and the approaches to the Gulf. USS MILLER returned to the United States on April 9, 1980.

After returning from the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf deployment, USS MILLER resumed Atlantic Fleet training. From December 1 to December 17, 1980, she participated in COMPUTEX 1-81. A composite training exercise of this type was designed to prepare ships and staffs for coordinated fleet operations, including antisubmarine warfare, air defense, surface tactics, communications, navigation, and underway support. For USS MILLER, this exercise continued the pattern of maintaining readiness after a demanding overseas deployment and preparing for future Atlantic Fleet assignments.

In 1981, USS MILLER continued to operate in fleet and training roles. A 1981 image documents a high-line transfer involving USS CARON (DD 970) and USS MILLER, with midshipmen being transferred to USS MILLER. Such operations were routine but important parts of seamanship and fleet training, and they also reflected the ship's use in officer-development and familiarization activity. USS MILLER returned to Newport, Rhode Island, on July 15, 1981. The move toward Newport was part of the transition that would soon change the character of her service from regular Atlantic Fleet deployment cycles to Naval Reserve Force duty.

On January 15, 1982, USS MILLER was transferred to the Naval Reserve Force and assigned to Commander, Naval Surface Group Four, while retaining her home port at Newport, Rhode Island. This was a major turning point in her career. The ship remained commissioned, but her mission shifted toward reserve training, readiness support, and operations in areas closer to the western Atlantic and Caribbean. The transfer reflected broader Navy manpower and force-structure practices of the early 1980s, in which some older but still useful ships were assigned to reserve-force structures while newer or more modernized ships remained in front-line deployment rotations. In Naval Reserve Force service, USS MILLER provided a platform for reserve crews and active-duty personnel to maintain surface-warfare, engineering, navigation, damage-control, and seamanship skills.

From 1982 onward, USS MILLER's post-transfer operations mainly focused on western Atlantic and Caribbean service. This pattern is consistent with Naval Reserve Force employment: local and regional training periods, reserve crew support, short underway periods, readiness inspections, and exercises that allowed reservists to maintain qualification and operational familiarity. During this period, USS MILLER also qualified for the Coast Guard Special Operations Service Ribbon, indicating participation in Coast Guard-related special operations.

Through the mid- and late 1980s, USS MILLER continued her Newport-based reserve-force career. Her work was less visible than carrier battle group deployments or major overseas cruises, but it was still part of the Navy's Cold War structure. The Naval Reserve Force provided mobilization depth and kept additional hulls and trained personnel available for crisis or wartime expansion. In the western Atlantic and Caribbean, a ship such as USS MILLER could support reserve training, fleet exercises, inspection cycles, and cooperation with other United States maritime agencies. Her continued awards, including two Battle Efficiency "E" awards across her career, show that she remained within the Navy's evaluated readiness system during this later period.

By the beginning of the 1990s, the strategic environment that had shaped USS MILLER's design and early service had changed. The Cold War was ending, the Soviet naval threat was declining, and the United States Navy was reducing or transferring many older escort ships. KNOX-class frigates, built primarily for open-ocean antisubmarine warfare in a Cold War Atlantic setting, were increasingly being decommissioned, transferred to allied navies, or removed from regular service as the Navy shifted toward newer frigates, destroyers, and post-Cold War priorities. USS MILLER remained in commissioned service until October 15, 1991, when she was decommissioned after more than eighteen years of United States Navy service.

After decommissioning, USS MILLER was retained inactive for a time and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on January 11, 1995. Ex-MILLER was transferred to Turkey on July 19, 1999, but she was not recommissioned as an operational Turkish frigate in the way some other former KNOX-class ships were. Instead, she was transferred to Turkey as a parts hulk, supporting the Turkish Navy's operation of other former United States KNOX-class frigates. In 2001, the former USS MILLER was sunk as a target during a Turkish live-fire exercise.

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