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USS Schofield (FFG 3)

USS SCHOFIELD was the third BROOKE - class guided missile frigate. Decommissioned on September 8, 1988, and stricken from the Navy list on January 25, 1992, SCHOFIELD was finally sunk as a target on November 2, 1999 off the coast of southern California. The exact location was 036° 16' 00.7" North, 120° 48' 01.0" West.

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Crew List:

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

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

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USS SCHOFIELD Cruise Books:

• WestPac Cruise Book 1971

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Accidents aboard USS SCHOFIELD:

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USS SCHOFIELD History:

USS SCHOFIELD was the third ship of the BROOKE-class guided missile destroyer escorts, a small class designed in the early 1960s to combine antisubmarine warfare, area escort work, and guided-missile air-defense capability in a compact Pacific and Atlantic Fleet escort. The contract for the ship was awarded to Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington, on January 4, 1962. Her keel was laid on April 15, 1963, and she was launched and christened on December 7, 1963, sponsored by Mrs. F. Perry Schofield. The ship was delivered to the Navy shortly before commissioning and entered active service on May 11, 1968, as USS SCHOFIELD (DEG 3). At commissioning, USS SCHOFIELD joined the Pacific Fleet as a unit of Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Pacific, and Destroyer Squadron 23, with Long Beach, California, as her initial home port.

After commissioning and shakedown, USS SCHOFIELD trained out of Long Beach both independently and with Destroyer Squadron 23. This first period of service was devoted to bringing the new escort into the Pacific Fleet's operating rhythm: engineering reliability, missile and gun readiness, antisubmarine procedures, communications drills, and the routine shiphandling needed for carrier and task-group escort duty. In early 1969, she took part in First Fleet exercises off the U.S. West Coast, then at the end of March 1969 departed across the Pacific for her first Western Pacific deployment. That deployment came while the Vietnam War was still the central operational commitment for U.S. naval forces in the western Pacific, and ships such as USS SCHOFIELD were used for carrier escort, Gulf of Tonkin operations, patrol duty, surveillance, and allied exercises.

USS SCHOFIELD joined the Seventh Fleet on April 24, 1969. On May 7, 1969, she began operations in the Gulf of Tonkin with the carrier USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA 31). After about a week she entered Subic Bay in the Philippines for upkeep, then joined other Seventh Fleet units in Operation Sea Spirit, a SEATO exercise involving allied naval forces in Southeast Asian waters. The exercise ended abruptly on June 3, 1969, after the collision between USS FRANK E. EVANS (DD 754) and HMAS MELBOURNE, an accident that overshadowed the exercise and changed the operating schedule of participating ships.

On June 17, 1969, USS SCHOFIELD returned to the Gulf of Tonkin and remained there into July. She left the area on July 6, 1969, headed toward Japan, and took part in a joint exercise with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. Late in July, she returned toward the South China Sea. On July 27, 1969, she was again in the Gulf of Tonkin and for the next two weeks operated with USS KEARSARGE (CVS 33). A Hong Kong port visit followed. On August 22, 1969, she returned to Subic Bay, and in early September she moved north for Taiwan Strait patrol duty. During the night of September 8, 1969, she was ordered to assist USS WARBLER (MSC 206), which was in heavy seas roughly 70 nautical miles away and unable to transfer fuel to her engine. When USS SCHOFIELD reached the minesweeper, USS WARBLER was dead in the water. At daylight, USS SCHOFIELD took her in tow toward Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and then returned to her patrol assignment. Three days later, USS SCHOFIELD continued north toward Japan, joined hunter-killer group exercises, and then sailed to Hong Kong, where she served for about two weeks as station ship. On October 23, 1969, she returned to Japan, and on November 6, 1969, she began the eastbound voyage back to the United States.

After returning to Long Beach, USS SCHOFIELD spent most of the remainder of 1969 in port. In January 1970, she resumed antisubmarine warfare exercises off California. Early on January 9, 1970, those exercises, conducted with her squadron and USS HORNET (CVS 12), were interrupted after the merchant tanker SS CONNECTICUT was reported to be in danger about 200 nautical miles away. While proceeding toward the tanker, USS SCHOFIELD refueled helicopters from USS HORNET that were carrying rescue personnel and equipment. Two USS SCHOFIELD sailors, Electrician's Mate Senior Chief P. L. Kidd and Boiler Technician First Class A. E. Personette, were transferred to the tanker to assist. By the time USS SCHOFIELD arrived late in the afternoon, the emergency was under control, and the ship resumed her exercise schedule that evening. In mid-January, she returned to Long Beach and entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for a yard period that lasted into March. During the following months, she carried out squadron exercises, target-ship duties, missile firing exercises, and a reservist training cruise. In July 1970, she again entered the shipyard, this time for boiler overhaul work, and in October she resumed First Fleet operations off the West Coast.

On January 7, 1971, USS SCHOFIELD again headed west. Into February she exercised in Hawaiian waters, then returned to the West Coast for Operation Admixture, a joint U.S.-Canadian exercise. During that exercise she combined normal escort, plane-guard, and helicopter in-flight refueling duties with mothership duties for the experimental hydrofoil USS HIGH POINT (PCH 1). Operation Admixture ended on March 4, 1971. USS SCHOFIELD then returned briefly to Long Beach, and on March 11, 1971, she departed the California coast for the Western Pacific in company with Antisubmarine Warfare Group 3. She joined the Seventh Fleet on March 26, 1971. On April 3 and April 4 she operated off the Vietnamese coast, and on April 7 she arrived at Subic Bay. Five days later, the group got underway for Singapore and then continued into the Indian Ocean for antisubmarine warfare exercises. On April 24, 1971, during passage through the Sunda Strait between the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean, Antisubmarine Warfare Group 3 held a memorial service for the men lost when USS HOUSTON (CA 30) and HMAS PERTH were sunk there on February 28, 1942. At the end of April, the group sailed to Hong Kong, and on May 11, 1971, it got underway for Japan. After repairs at Yokosuka, USS SCHOFIELD took part in a major U.S. task-force exercise in the Sea of Japan, one of the more substantial U.S. naval exercises held there in several years. On June 17, 1971, she began the voyage home. Taking a northern route, she conducted antisubmarine exercises between Attu and the Kamchatka Peninsula before arriving at Long Beach on July 5, 1971.

In August 1971, USS SCHOFIELD began preparations for her first major overhaul. During September 1971, the ship's transition from Long Beach to San Diego as home port was underway, and on September 8, 1971, she entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for an extended overhaul that continued into 1972. The overhaul was completed on June 6, 1972, and USS SCHOFIELD sailed to San Diego, which became her operating base for the rest of her commissioned career. The next three months were spent in refresher training and post-overhaul exercises. That work included two successful Tartar missile launches at the Pacific Missile Range, confirming the readiness of her guided-missile battery after the yard period.

On September 9, 1972, USS SCHOFIELD departed San Diego for her third Seventh Fleet deployment. The outward transit included short stops at Pearl Harbor, Midway, Guam, and Subic Bay. On October 8, 1972, she joined Task Unit 77.0.1 in the Gulf of Tonkin. The deployment took place during the final months of direct U.S. combat operations in Vietnam, when U.S. naval forces still maintained carrier operations, picket stations, escort duties, and naval gunfire support missions off the coast. On October 28, 1972, USS SCHOFIELD received her first bombardment assignment of the deployment and fired through the night. On October 30, she left the area for upkeep at Kaohsiung. She returned to station in the Gulf of Tonkin on November 9 and remained there until December 8, 1972. She then visited Hong Kong and Sasebo before returning to the firing line on New Year's Day, January 1, 1973. At first she acted as a picket ship. In mid-January she was assigned to fire-support duty and carried out daily missions until January 26, 1973, when she departed for Subic Bay. The Paris Peace Accords were signed during this period, and the cease-fire changed the deployment's tempo. USS SCHOFIELD returned to Yankee Station on February 13, 1973, but soon learned that the cessation of hostilities would shorten her Western Pacific tour by one month. On February 15, 1973, she sailed for Yokosuka and then San Diego, arriving at her home port on March 9, 1973.

From April through September 1973, USS SCHOFIELD underwent a restricted availability that gave her more extensive helicopter facilities and enabled her to operate the SH-2 LAMPS helicopter. This work was important for a ship whose primary Cold War value lay in escort and antisubmarine warfare, because LAMPS extended the reach of her sensors and weapons beyond the hull-mounted sonar and shipboard torpedo battery. She conducted sea trials in October 1973, carried out firing exercises in early November, and on November 23, 1973, departed again for the Western Pacific. She exercised at Pearl Harbor and Midway, then entered Subic Bay on December 18, 1973. Four days later, on December 22, she departed for Singapore with orders to continue from there into the Indian Ocean for surveillance operations. The assignment placed her in a region that was receiving increased U.S. naval attention after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the oil crisis, and continuing Cold War concern over Soviet naval activity and regional access routes. USS SCHOFIELD returned to San Diego on June 6, 1974.

During 1974 and 1975, USS SCHOFIELD remained part of the Pacific Fleet's San Diego-based escort force. Her 1975 Western Pacific deployment, supported by HSL-33 Detachment 10, took place during the final collapse of South Vietnam and the immediate crisis that followed the seizure of SS MAYAGUEZ by Khmer Rouge forces. The cruise began before the end of South Vietnam, and in late April 1975, USS SCHOFIELD was among the U.S. ships moving west across the Pacific as events in Indochina overtook normal deployment schedules. A group that included USS BADGER (DE 1071), USS HAROLD E. HOLT (DE 1074), USS SCHOFIELD, and the ammunition ship USS KISKA (AE 35) reached Guam for fuel on April 28, 1975, and then continued toward the Philippines after being diverted in connection with the evacuation crisis. USS SCHOFIELD reached Subic Bay on May 4, 1975. Cruise-book-supported accounts and later historical discussion of the period associate USS SCHOFIELD with support to the evacuation and refugee movement during the final days of South Vietnam, including assistance to vessels and evacuees fleeing the coast and movement connected with Subic Bay. Those events formed part of the wider naval response surrounding Operation Frequent Wind, the final evacuation from Saigon on April 29 and April 30, 1975.

Only days later, on May 12, 1975, Khmer Rouge forces seized the U.S.-flagged merchant ship SS MAYAGUEZ in the Gulf of Thailand. USS SCHOFIELD was then drawn into the naval response. The main boarding and assault tasks centered on other forces, including USS HAROLD E. HOLT, USS HENRY B. WILSON (DDG 7), aircraft from USS CORAL SEA (CVA 43), and Marine and Air Force units operating around Koh Tang Island and the captured merchant ship. USS SCHOFIELD's role was supporting and blocking duty in the wider operating area, intended to help prevent additional Khmer Rouge movement between Cambodian mainland positions and the U.S. force. The Mayaguez operation, fought immediately after the fall of South Vietnam and the fall of Phnom Penh, closed a turbulent phase in U.S. military operations in Indochina and linked USS SCHOFIELD's 1975 deployment to both evacuation support and the final U.S. combat crisis of that era. On June 30, 1975, as part of a Navy-wide reclassification, USS SCHOFIELD's designation changed from DEG 3 to FFG 3. She was thereafter carried as a guided missile frigate, although her basic mission as an escort and antisubmarine platform remained the same.

In 1977, USS SCHOFIELD was among a group of U.S. Navy ships used in an evaluation of wire-sprayed aluminum as a corrosion-control and preservation method. Between August 22 and August 29, 1977, USS SCHOFIELD was attached to Destroyer Squadron 23 during a Pacific transit from Pearl Harbor to San Diego. Ships in company included USS BRONSTEIN (FF 1037), USS ALBERT DAVID (FF 1050), USS JOHN PAUL JONES (DDG 32), USS HASSAYAMPA (AO 145), and USS BADGER. During the crossing, the ships carried out exercises that included mock refueling operations and battle problems, routine but important work for maintaining underway replenishment procedures, tactical coordination, and readiness after forward operations.

USS SCHOFIELD again appears in the dated record during a 1978 Western Pacific deployment. On May 14, 1978, USS DARTER (SS 576) suffered flooding after a snorkel-valve failure while operating in the western Pacific. USS SCHOFIELD escorted the submarine toward Yokosuka, where USS DARTER arrived for repairs on May 19, 1978. This episode was typical of the practical support role assigned to surface escorts during Cold War deployments: in addition to formal exercises and assigned patrols, they were available for emergency assistance, escort of damaged units, and quick redirection to developing problems at sea. USS SCHOFIELD continued San Diego-based Pacific Fleet service through the end of the decade, with her work centered on Western Pacific deployments, escort operations, antisubmarine training, helicopter operations, and periodic upkeep.

At the start of 1980, USS SCHOFIELD was part of a U.S. naval movement into the Indian Ocean during a period of heightened tension after the Iranian Revolution, the seizure of the U.S. Embassy hostages in Tehran, and wider concern over security of sea routes and regional access. On January 31, 1980, a five-ship battle group built around USS CORAL SEA entered the Indian Ocean and relieved the battle group led by USS MIDWAY (CV 41). For USS SCHOFIELD, this assignment continued the pattern already visible in her earlier Indian Ocean operations: escorting larger combatants, contributing missile and antisubmarine capability, and supporting U.S. naval presence in a region where political crises and Cold War naval competition overlapped.

During the early 1980s, USS SCHOFIELD remained active from San Diego. Photographs place her underway in San Diego Bay in September 1981, leaving port. A 1982 Western Pacific cruise book shows that she made another forward deployment in that period. On June 8, 1983, USS SCHOFIELD was photographed underway at sea from multiple angles, including views of her starboard and port beams, bow, quarter, after superstructure, and flight-deck area. These images show her still in active seagoing service, with flight-deck crew visible near the hangar in one view, consistent with the LAMPS role added in the 1973 modification period. On March 18, 1984, USS SCHOFIELD was moored at Auckland, New Zealand, during a port visit. The visit placed her within the normal pattern of Pacific Fleet deployments that combined exercises, allied-navy contact, port calls, and transit operations across the central and southwest Pacific.

By the late 1980s, the BROOKE-class frigates were approaching the end of their U.S. Navy careers. Their steam plants, compact hulls, older missile systems, and Cold War escort design belonged to an earlier generation, while the Navy was increasingly relying on newer gas-turbine frigates, cruisers, and destroyers. USS SCHOFIELD was decommissioned at San Diego, California, on September 8, 1988, after 20 years and four months of commissioned service. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on January 25, 1992. After several years out of active service, the former USS SCHOFIELD was expended as a target on November 2, 1999, off the California coast in the Point Conception operating area.

Over the course of her service, USS SCHOFIELD's documented awards included the Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Battle Efficiency "E" awards, the Navy Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with four campaign stars, the Humanitarian Service Ribbon, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

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USS SCHOFIELD Image Gallery:

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