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USS Glover (FF 1098)

Authorized as environmental research ship AGER 163, the GLOVER was redesignated and commissioned as escort research ship AGDE 1 soon after. Fitted out with advanced sonar and antisubmarine weapons, the GLOVER was designed to serve as an experimental research escort for developing and testing the latest antisubmarine weapons systems. As a research ship, she tested equipment designed to more readily detect and track enemy submarines, and she evaluated tactics and procedures. Capable of participating in offensive operations against submarines, she also provided support for hunter-killer groups, amphibious forces, and ocean convoys.

On June 30, 1975, her designation was changed to AGFF 1, and on October 1, 1979, she was again redesignated as FF 1098, becoming a regular frigate in the GARCIA - class. The GLOVER served in this role until she was decommissioned on June 15, 1990. Again reclassified to T-AGFF 1, the GLOVER transfered to the Military Sealift Command the same day and was subsequently designated a sonar trials ship, no longer carrying any armament. Finally deactivated on August 28, 1992, the GLOVER was stricken from the Navy list on November 20, 1992. On April 15, 1994, the GLOVER was sold for scrapping to N. R. Acquisition Inc., New York City, for $80,743.79.

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Crew List:

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

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About the Ship's Name:

John Glover, born 5 November 1732 at Salem, Mass., became a wealthy merchant and shipowner in Marblehead, Mass., prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. A leading member of the Marblehead committee of correspondence, in 1775 he formed a local militia to defend the area. Made up of sailing men, his unit also trained as infantrymen and later became known as the "amphibious regiment." Soon after taking formal command of the Continental Army 3 July, General George Washington placed Glover in command of equipping and manning armed merchant ships for the defense of the colonies, thus forming the first deep water force, "George Washington's Navy." Following the British evacuation of Boston 17 March 1776, he was ordered to New York where his regiment transported troops during their evacuation from Long Island. In December they transported Washington's troops across the Delaware River, and, during the successful attack on Trenton 26 December, his regiment led the advance.

Promoted to Brigadier General in February 1777, he participated in the campaign against Burgoyne's forces. After the British surrender 17 October, he returned prisoners to Boston for shipment back to England. While stationed at West Point in 1780, General Glover served on the court that convicted Major John Andre 29 September of spying.

Early in 1782 he was dispatched to Massachusetts to take charge of mustering recruits, but failing health forced him to retire from active duty. He remained in Massachusetts after the war and during January and February 1788 served as a member of the Massachusetts convention which ratified the Federal Constitution. He died at Marblehead 30 January 1797.

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USS GLOVER History:

USS GLOVER, the first United States Navy ship named for John Glover, was a unique experimental escort derived from the basic design that also produced the GARCIA-class destroyer escorts. The contract for the new ship was awarded to Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, on June 28, 1961. Her keel was laid on July 29, 1963, and she was launched and christened on April 17, 1965. Her sponsors were Mrs. William S. Pederson Sr. and Mrs. Claude V. Signer, both great-great-great-granddaughters of General Glover. Although closely related structurally to the GARCIA-class, GLOVER was conceived from the outset as a one-of-a-kind experimental research escort intended to develop and evaluate new anti-submarine warfare equipment, techniques and operating procedures under realistic fleet conditions. One of her most distinctive engineering features was a shrouded pump-jet propulsion arrangement. Reducing the acoustic signature generated by the ship herself was particularly valuable for a platform whose principal mission centered on sonar research. Gyroscopically controlled stabilizing fins were also installed to reduce rolling and provide a more stable platform for experimental equipment. The after section of the ship differed significantly from the standard GARCIA arrangement and was repeatedly modified during her career as experimental acoustic equipment was installed, removed and replaced.

GLOVER was commissioned at Boston Naval Shipyard on November 13, 1965, with Commander William W. Wilson in command. She was assigned to Destroyer Development Group Two at Newport, Rhode Island. The organization was responsible for evaluating equipment, tactics and procedures that might subsequently be introduced into wider fleet service. GLOVER's designation as AGDE 1 reflected this special role: she was an experimental escort capable of operating with normal fleet formations while simultaneously serving as an instrumented research platform.

After completing her initial post-commissioning work, GLOVER joined the Atlantic Fleet during 1966 and operated along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. Her early activities concentrated heavily on anti-submarine warfare research. The requirement was becoming increasingly important as the Soviet Union expanded its nuclear-powered submarine force and developed boats with greater endurance, speed and weapons capability. The United States Navy consequently placed considerable emphasis on improving long-range acoustic detection, classification and tracking and on determining how new equipment would function in actual fleet operations.

During 1966, GLOVER entered Boston Naval Shipyard for modifications that included additional electronic testing and data-recording equipment. These installations allowed engineers to collect and preserve detailed information during sonar trials instead of relying solely on the tactical information presented to operators during an exercise. The ship could therefore perform a normal detection or tracking problem while simultaneously producing technical data for later analysis ashore.

Commander William H. DeMers II relieved Commander Wilson on January 17, 1967. GLOVER continued development work with the Atlantic Fleet throughout the year. Newport and the operating areas off New England provided access to submarines, surface units and a wide range of acoustic environments. Her association with Destroyer Development Group Two allowed new equipment to be tested repeatedly under changing sea conditions and in conjunction with trained fleet crews rather than only under controlled laboratory circumstances.

Another important modification period followed during 1968. GLOVER again entered Boston Naval Shipyard and was fitted with a variable-depth sonar system in addition to further experimental equipment. Unlike the permanent sonar transducer installed in a ship's bow, a variable-depth sonar could be lowered behind the ship and operated at different depths. This was significant because changes in temperature, salinity and pressure create acoustic layers capable of bending sonar energy and producing areas in which a submarine can be difficult to detect from a fixed hull-mounted sonar. Operating a transducer at different depths allowed the Navy to investigate ways of overcoming such environmental limitations.

On January 22, 1968, GLOVER was documented underway in Narragansett Bay off Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Later in the year, she operated at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where she was photographed moored across the pier from USS NORRIS (DD 859), with the anti-submarine warfare carrier USS WASP (CVS 18) visible nearby. The Caribbean operating areas around Guantanamo Bay were regularly used for fleet training and provided GLOVER with opportunities to combine technical trials with normal anti-submarine exercises.

Commander John W. Peterson relieved Commander DeMers on November 8, 1968. During 1969, GLOVER continued Atlantic Fleet testing and anti-submarine training. Her usefulness lay not simply in demonstrating that a new sensor could detect a submarine, but in determining whether that sensor could be integrated into normal shipboard watchstanding, communications, maneuvering and weapons procedures. Equipment that performed well during a controlled trial still had to prove that sailors could operate and maintain it while the ship carried out ordinary fleet missions.

In 1970, GLOVER made her first transatlantic crossing and Mediterranean cruise. During the deployment, she operated in a considerably different acoustic and tactical environment from the western Atlantic and visited ports in Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The cruise occurred during an important phase of Cold War naval competition in the Mediterranean. The United States Sixth Fleet maintained carrier, amphibious and surface forces in the region, while the Soviet Navy's Fifth Eskadra had developed into a permanent Mediterranean presence. For GLOVER, the deployment allowed sonar systems and anti-submarine procedures developed in Atlantic waters to be evaluated under different oceanographic conditions and while operating among the substantial concentration of NATO and Soviet naval forces in the region.

Commander Bennet S. Simonton relieved Commander Peterson on September 16, 1970. Following the Mediterranean deployment, GLOVER resumed Atlantic research and development work. She was documented off New London, Connecticut, around this period. The New London and southern New England operating areas were closely associated with United States submarine operations and undersea warfare training and therefore provided an appropriate environment for a ship devoted to anti-submarine research.

During 1971, GLOVER continued operating primarily as an Atlantic Fleet research and anti-submarine platform. Her work required close cooperation between sonar operators, shipboard technicians, submarines used as targets and technical organizations ashore. Experimental tasks were incorporated into normal fleet operations whenever possible so that new systems could be evaluated under realistic tactical conditions. Commander David F. Pitzinger relieved Commander Simonton on February 29, 1972. GLOVER continued to operate from Newport during the year. She was photographed moored at Naval Station Newport in September and was documented in New York in October, maneuvering in the East River near the former New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn.

During 1973, GLOVER operated beyond her normal Atlantic environment and was officially photographed underway in the Pacific Ocean. Her configuration at that time included a conspicuous experimental dome installed aft above the hangar-deck area. The appearance of the ship in the Pacific demonstrated the geographical reach of her research program and allowed acoustic equipment to be evaluated under oceanographic conditions different from those normally encountered off the Atlantic coast. Commander John J. Kristof relieved Commander Pitzinger on August 25, 1973.

In 1974, GLOVER's homeport was changed from Newport to Norfolk, Virginia. The move placed her close to the Atlantic Fleet's largest concentration of surface combatants and to the extensive maintenance and technical facilities in the Hampton Roads area. She continued development and evaluation work from Norfolk while operating in the western Atlantic and Virginia Capes areas. In September 1974, GLOVER entered Boston Naval Shipyard for another period of modifications. By then, the ship had been functioning as an operational research platform for almost nine years, during which successive generations of experimental equipment had altered both her internal technical spaces and her external appearance.

On June 30, 1975, GLOVER was redesignated USS GLOVER (AGFF 1), Experimental Frigate. The change formed part of the Navy-wide reclassification of surface combatants implemented that day but preserved GLOVER's special experimental status. She remained the only ship assigned the AGFF designation. Commander Ned H. Mayo relieved Commander Kristof on July 3. During 1975 and 1976, she continued Atlantic Fleet training and experimental operations from Norfolk.

Commander Walter J. Wylie relieved Commander Mayo on June 3, 1977. During the remainder of the year, GLOVER continued Atlantic operations and prepared for an extended assignment farther from the United States. The Middle East was becoming an increasingly important operating area for the Navy, although the permanent American naval presence there was still relatively small compared with that maintained in Europe or the western Pacific. During 1978, GLOVER deployed with the Middle East Force. Commander John R. Dalrymple Jr. relieved Commander Wylie on June 3, and Commander Niles W. Berry assumed command on June 25. The deployment placed the experimental frigate in a conventional operational role across the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean region.

GLOVER served in company with USS BARNEY (DDG 6). Their assignment took place during the final year of the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in Iran and before the political upheaval of the Iranian Revolution transformed relations between Washington and Tehran. The small Middle East Force maintained an American naval presence over a very large geographical area while conducting port visits, regional engagement and general maritime operations. The end of GLOVER's assignment is documented precisely: USS VREELAND (FF 1068) and USS MULLINNIX (DD 944) departed Mayport, Florida, on July 23, 1978, crossed the Atlantic and Mediterranean, transited the Suez Canal and reached Port Sudan, Sudan, on August 9. There, the two ships completed turnover with GLOVER and BARNEY and assumed their responsibilities with the Middle East Force. USS LA SALLE (AGF 3) served as the force flagship. GLOVER and BARNEY then began their return from the region.

Following the Middle East assignment, GLOVER returned to Atlantic Fleet duties and Norfolk. A photograph dating from approximately 1978 shows her at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia. Such maintenance periods supported both the ship's conventional steam engineering plant and the specialized equipment that distinguished her from other Atlantic Fleet frigates. On October 1, 1979, the Navy redesignated the ship USS GLOVER (FF 1098). The change removed the experimental prefix from her formal classification and placed her administratively in the normal frigate category, although her configuration and continuing technical work remained unlike that of a standard fleet frigate. The hull number 1098 was unusual because the ship had not been part of the normal sequence of production frigates bearing nearby numbers. The reclassification occurred as the strategic environment in the Middle East deteriorated rapidly. The Iranian monarchy had collapsed earlier in 1979, the United States embassy in Tehran was seized on November 4, and the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December. American naval forces consequently increased their presence in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean while the Iranian hostage crisis continued.

GLOVER returned to the Middle East area during this period and operated there with USS SEMMES (DDG 18). Their relief is documented in early February 1980. USS KOELSCH (FF 1049) and USS TATTNALL (DDG 19) transited the Suez Canal on February 2 and 3 and relieved SEMMES and GLOVER at Port Suez, Egypt.

Commander Peter K. Glasier relieved Commander Berry on August 23, 1980. GLOVER subsequently resumed Atlantic Fleet activities from Norfolk. Throughout 1981, GLOVER continued Atlantic operations. The strategic anti-submarine problem for which she had originally been constructed remained significant. The Soviet Navy operated increasingly capable nuclear-powered attack and cruise-missile submarines in the Atlantic, Norwegian Sea and Mediterranean, while the United States Navy continued to develop improved acoustic processing systems, tactical procedures and weapons intended to counter them. On June 1, 1982, GLOVER was extensively photographed underway during Atlantic Fleet operations. The official aerial photographs show the ship in her mature FF 1098 configuration and document that she remained actively employed rather than being confined to experimental work alongside a pier. Commander Glasier remained in command until September 4, when Captain Robert J. Norman Jr. relieved him.

During 1983, GLOVER continued Atlantic Fleet duties as both a frigate and specialized anti-submarine platform. By then, the Navy was introducing large numbers of SPRUANCE-class destroyers, OLIVER HAZARD PERRY-class guided-missile frigates and other newer ships equipped with more modern sensors and combat systems. GLOVER nevertheless retained value as an instrumented test platform because experimental equipment could be installed aboard her without removing a newer front-line combatant from normal operational commitments.

In 1984, GLOVER participated in Ocean Venture '84, a major joint and multinational exercise conducted in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and southeastern approaches to the United States. The exercise began on April 20 and involved more than 32,000 personnel. It tested command and control, protection of maritime routes, reinforcement, amphibious operations and the ability of naval, air and ground forces to operate together. The exercise occurred only months after the United States intervention in Grenada and while Washington was closely monitoring political and military developments in Central America and the Caribbean.

On April 30, 1984, Ocean Venture entered an important amphibious phase at Vieques, Puerto Rico. The 26th Marine Amphibious Unit conducted an assault supported at sea by USS HARLAN COUNTY (LST 1196), GLOVER, USS THORN (DD 988) and USS TALBOT (FFG 4). GLOVER's employment in the operation demonstrated that even after nearly two decades of experimental work she remained capable of functioning as a conventional escort within an amphibious force.

GLOVER continued Atlantic Fleet operations during 1985. Anti-submarine warfare remained one of the major priorities of the Navy's expansion toward the planned 600-ship fleet, with particular emphasis on protecting carrier battle groups and Atlantic reinforcement routes against the Soviet submarine force. Commander David G. McCullough relieved Captain Norman on February 9, 1986. That summer, GLOVER undertook one of the most unusual deployments of her career when she entered the St. Lawrence Seaway for an extended Great Lakes cruise. The voyage was the ninth annual Great Lakes visit jointly sponsored by the Navy Recruiting Command and the Atlantic Fleet and was intended largely to bring an operational Navy ship to inland communities that otherwise had little direct contact with the fleet.

On June 23, 1986, GLOVER was documented proceeding upstream in the St. Lawrence River off Varennes, Quebec, while heading toward Montreal and the Great Lakes. The full cruise extended from June into September. GLOVER visited 18 ports and received approximately 136,000 visitors during the deployment. Operating through the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes also required navigation through confined waterways, locks and freshwater ports unlike those encountered during the ship's normal Atlantic operations. Chicago was among the major stops. During July, while GLOVER was moored at Navy Pier, Roosevelt "Rick" Wright was promoted to commander aboard the ship by retired Lieutenant Jesse Arbor, one of the Navy's first African American commissioned officers of World War II. GLOVER subsequently continued through the lakes and was photographed at Cleveland, Ohio, on July 30. The Great Lakes deployment combined recruiting and public-affairs objectives with the normal professional requirements of operating an oceangoing frigate through restricted inland waters.

In 1987, GLOVER undertook a Northern European cruise. The ship was documented at Portsmouth, England, during July. The deployment took place during the final period of intensive Cold War naval competition in the North Atlantic and northern Europe, where NATO continued to concentrate on protecting reinforcement routes and monitoring Soviet Northern Fleet activity. Later in 1987, GLOVER was operating in European waters again. On December 7, after USS FARRAGUT (DDG 37) had completed duties at Rota, Spain, GLOVER sailed from the area in company with FARRAGUT and other Atlantic Fleet units. The movement formed part of the continuing pattern of Atlantic Fleet operations linking the eastern Atlantic, European waters and the United States.

Commander Kenneth J. Taplett relieved Commander McCullough on April 9, 1988. GLOVER was officially photographed underway off the Virginia coast during March, shortly before the change of command. Her remaining commissioned career was increasingly dominated by maintenance and technical work as the Navy attempted to obtain further useful service from the aging but still specialized platform. During 1988, GLOVER entered an extended drydocking phase-maintenance availability at General Ship Corporation in East Boston, Massachusetts. On June 6, the company received an additional contract worth approximately $7.49 million to extend the availability, with completion scheduled for April 1989. GLOVER emerged from the extended maintenance period during 1989. On May 24, USS SCOTT (DDG 995) departed Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, to rendezvous with GLOVER and the fleet oiler USS MONONGAHELA (AO 178) for an Atlantic transit. GLOVER developed mechanical problems and was forced to return to Norfolk rather than continue the planned crossing. The incident occurred late in a career during which the increasing age of her steam propulsion plant was becoming an important factor in continued operations.

The wider political setting was also changing rapidly. During 1989 communist governments collapsed across much of Eastern Europe, relations between Washington and Moscow continued to improve and the Cold War confrontation that had been the principal reason for GLOVER's original anti-submarine research mission was approaching its end. The Navy nevertheless retained the ship because her acoustic characteristics and internal spaces still made her useful for specialized sonar work.

GLOVER remained commissioned into 1990. On June 15, 1990, USS GLOVER was decommissioned after almost twenty-five years of commissioned service. On the same date, she was redesignated T-AGFF 1, Sonar Trials Ship, and placed "in service" with the Military Sealift Command. The change formally ended her career as a commissioned fleet frigate but did not end her work for the Navy. The new status returned the ship even more directly to the research mission for which she had originally been built. As T-AGFF 1, GLOVER was used as a sonar trials and research platform in support of naval undersea-warfare organizations. Operating through the Military Sealift Command allowed the Navy and associated technical organizations to continue using her specialized acoustic facilities without maintaining the complete commissioned-warship organization required during her FF 1098 service.

The transition did not immediately remove the ship from Norfolk. On July 14, 1990, GLOVER was photographed at Pier 7 at Naval Station Norfolk. Although no longer a commissioned frigate, she still retained the outward appearance of her previous fleet configuration while preparations for her research role continued. During 1990, 1991 and 1992 GLOVER remained in service as a sonar trials platform. Her large internal technical spaces, established acoustic infrastructure and unusual quieting features allowed new underwater-detection concepts to be tested without dedicating a modern frontline surface combatant to prolonged experimental work.

The strategic environment changed fundamentally during this period. The Warsaw Pact dissolved, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991. Undersea warfare and submarine detection remained important missions for the United States Navy, but the immediate Cold War requirement for a specialized aging steam-powered research frigate diminished as the fleet itself entered a major post-Cold War reduction. On November 20, 1992, GLOVER was formally taken out of service with the Military Sealift Command. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on the same date, ending approximately 27 years of Navy and Military Sealift Command service.

The former ship was subsequently offered for disposal. On April 15, 1994, ex-GLOVER was sold for scrapping to N.R. Acquisitions Company of New York City for $80,743.79. The actual dismantling did not occur immediately after the sale. The final disposal record identifies November 8, 1995, as the date on which the former GLOVER was scrapped at Wilmington, North Carolina.

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