USS Koelsch
USS Koelsch was a frigate in service with the United States Navy from 1968 to 1989. She was then leased to Pakistan where she served as Siqqat until 1994. The frigate was subsequently scrapped.
History
Koelsch was laid down as a destroyer escort on 19 February 1964 at Bay City, Michigan, by Defoe Shipbuilding Company and launched on 8 June 1965, sponsored by Miss Virginia L. Koelsch, niece of the late Lt. Koelsch. the ship conducted builders' trials on Lake Huron on 14–15 April 1967 and departed Bay City on 11 May 1967. She transited the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, and was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, USA, on 10 June 1967.United States Navy
1960s
With Newport, Rhode Island, designated as her home port, Koelsch spent the rest of 1967 at Boston, Massachusetts, much of it in drydock, fitting-out, workmen covering the teardrop-shaped sonar dome with an experimental rubber coating; installing the Antisubmarine Warfare Ship Command and Control System ; replacing eight superheater tube stubs on 1A boiler; and removing the Drone Antisubmarine Helicopter equipment in preparation for the ship's receiving a manned helicopter capability.Koelsch deployed on a Northern European-Mediterranean cruise, departing from Naval Station Newport on 20 August 1968 and returning on 19 December. During the deployment, she visited Southampton ; Stavanger, Norway ; Hamburg, Germany ; Lisbon, Portugal ; Naples, Italy ; Barcelona, Spain ; and Gibraltar.
From 14 January to 22 March 1969, Koelsch remained at Boston undergoing post-shakedown availability. On 1 April, she departed her home port for the Virginia Capes to conduct individual exercises and type training. On 1 May, Koelsch again departed Newport, refueling in the Azores, to join the antisubmarine warfare carrier s task group operating in the eastern Atlantic. All ships of the force anchored off Spithead, between Portsmouth and the Isle of Wright, on 14 May to be reviewed two days later by Queen Elizabeth II from the royal yacht HMY Britannia. After a five-day visit at Cherbourg, France, the destroyer escort rejoined Wasp on 22 May to conduct Hunter-Killer Group operations and to evaluate the installed Antisubmarine Warfare Tactical Data System west of Ireland. Koelsch continued those operations until departing for Newport on 5 July, interrupted by port visits to Oslo, Norway and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The ship returned to Newport on 11 July, entering an upkeep period soon thereafter. She participated in operations Squeeze Play I and Squeeze Play II, conducting ASW exercises off United States East Coast.
1970s
Koelsch departed Newport on 5 February 1970 to participate in Squeeze Play III in the western Atlantic. She then conducted experimental ASW exercises and visited Bermuda twice, before returning home on 2 March. On 13 April, she got underway for two weeks of independent exercises off the Virginia Capes punctuated by a liberty weekend at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, which commenced on 17 April. The ship participated in Squeeze Play IV and Squeeze Play V off the east coast of the United States. Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Atlantic awarded Koelsch the Rhode Island Navy League's Anti Submarine Warfare Trophy for her performance in the Squeeze Play evaluations, marking her as the outstanding ASW ship in the Atlantic Fleet.Koelsch and her crew attended the Maine Lobster Festival at Rockland, Maine before acting on special orders during her return voyage to Newport, searching for and apprehending three enlisted people allegedly deserting to Canada in a pleasure craft, and turning them over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Newport. The crew prepared their ship for a regular overhaul period by offloading ammunition at the Naval Weapons Station Earle, New Jersey, on 10 August and beginning a tender availability at Newport. Koelsch remained at Boston Naval Shipyard for overhaul from 15 September to 21 December, a yard period broken by sea trials on 9 and 10 December.
The ship loaded ammunition at Naval Weapons Station Earle in preparation for refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She visited Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, for Weapons System Acceptance Trials and Saint Croix. Koelsch then spent the next seven weeks in refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, broken up by a port visit to Kingston, Jamaica. Reports of a Soviet submarine tender off Bahia de Nipe, Cuba, resulted in another interruption in her slate of training on 10 March, when she received orders to proceed immediately to those waters. Koelsch relieved on station early on 11 March, and patrolled outside the harbor observing and reporting all shipping activities for the next 24 hours, when she was relieved and returned to Guantanamo Bay to complete her refresher training. The ship returned to Newport on 29 March.
Getting underway again on 26 April 1971 and returning to Newport on 11 May, Koelsch conducted special towed array sonar tests in Exuma Sounds in the Bahamas. The ship participated in two midshipmen training periods that involved underway periods of up to eight hours per day, three or four days per week. Participation in Squeeze Play exercises broke up the midshipmen training periods. The ship later participated in LantCorTEx evaluations, type training, and combined Canadian-United States exercises.
Following an upkeep period and type training in local waters, Koelsch got underway from Newport on 10 March 1972 for a six-week operation with the Spanish and Portuguese navies off the Iberian Peninsula. After conducting ASW operations with the Spanish Navy, the ship put into Rota, Spain, on 30 March for a six-day port visit. Koelsch conducted ASW operations with the Portuguese Navy followed by a three-day visit to Porto, Portugal, and returned to Newport on 23 April. The ship got underway on 16 May for type training with other units of Destroyer Squadron 24, but found it necessary to moor at the Norfolk Naval Base to conduct engineering repairs before completing the training and returning to Newport on 25 May.
Koelsch departed her homeport on 14 June 1972 for her first extended deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, arriving at Rota, on 22 June. Underway later that day, the ship participated in task force operations until 6 July, interrupted by an anchorage at off Las Palmas and a medical evacuation at Naples. After a week of liberty at Palma de Mallorca, the ship conducted operations at sea followed by an upkeep period at Naples. From there, Koelsch departed for the Aegean Sea to conduct carrier and ASW operations with port visits to Limnos, Greece and Athens. Pausing at Palma on 2 September, the ship participated in a two-day NATO ASW operation prior to picking up a Navy Band at Barcelona to take part in a religious festival at Port Mahon, Minorca. Remaining at Port Mahon from 6 to 9 September, the ship then visited Rota on 12 September before returning to the Aegean to participate in a NATO amphibious exercise in the vicinity of Alexandroupoli, Greece. Koelsch then conducted boiler repairs at Athens. Rendezvousing with other ASW forces, she conducted two days of operations followed by a port visit to Sfax, Tunisia. Reaching Barcelona on 7 October, the ship spent the next two weeks in a leave and upkeep period. Koelsch then participated in carrier and aircraft operations in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and following a two-day visit to Naples, conducted "special operations" along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast. She then participated in her second National Week exercise concluding with a two-day anchorage at Souda Bay, Crete. Arriving at Livorno, Italy, on 23 November for a five-day holiday port visit, the ship stopped at Toulon, France before heading to Gibraltar for a turnover of operational orders. Coming under the command of the United States Second Fleet on 10 December, Koelsch departed Gibraltar and arrived back at Newport on 18 December.
Koelsch participated in Sharem XIV exercises in the western Atlantic Ocean for evaluation of sonar tactics, then carried out type training with DesRon 24 and with four French ships of the standing NATO force, followed by a stint of midshipman training. The ship and crew celebrated the Fourth of July at Bristol, Rhode Island, having transported 75 local dignitaries as guests on 29 June, then remaining anchored off the port until 5 July. The ship's sailors participated in the Bristol parade, one of the oldest in the country, and were guests at picnics, dances, and cocktail parties. From 24 July to 19 August the ship operated in and out of Newport for Destroyer School training cruises. Koelsch departed Newport on 20 August and arrived at her new homeport of Naval Station Mayport, Florida on 26 August. During September, the ship's crew, with assistance from Naval Ordnance Systems Support Office Atlantic and Mobile Technical Unit 12, replaced both 5"/38 gun mounts with reconditioned ones from the Naval Ammunition Depot Crane, Indiana. The ship departed Mayport on 1 October for refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and on 18 and 19 October the ship qualified in naval gunfire support at Culebra Island. Returning to her homeport on 21 October, Koelsch spent the next two and a half weeks preparing for her second extended deployment, this time to the Indian Ocean.
Getting underway on 15 November 1973, Koelsch rendezvoused with at Roosevelt Roads on 18 November before they crossed the Atlantic Ocean in company and visited Dakar, Senegal and Freetown, Sierra Leone, hosting President Saika Stevens of Sierra Leone during the latter visit. The ship crossed Equator on 7 December, and Neptunus Rex initiated 178 members of her crew into the "Order of the Royal Shellbacks" during the ship's first Line-crossing ceremony. Refueling from British fleet oilers RFA Tidespring and RFA Tidereach, Koelsch and Brumby joined and three days before Christmas in the Indian Ocean. All four ships refueled from before arriving at Port Louis, Mauritius on 24 December.
Koelsch visited Le Port, Réunion before joining and for exercises that lasted until 25 January. She then steamed independently to make port calls at Massawa, Ethiopia and Bahrain. The ship crossed the Persian Gulf to Bandar Abbas, Iran, on 6 March to participate in combined exercises with units of the Royal Navy and Navy of Iran. She gave a tour to some thirty students on 7 March. In port from 6 to 9 March for pre-exercise briefings, Koelsch joined, Brumby, HMS Scylla, HMS Ariadne, HMS Danae, and the Iranian vessels Saam, Zaal, Kannamouie, and Milanian for exercises. The ship spent six days at Karachi, Pakistan beginning on 12 March where she exchanged visits with members of the Navy of Pakistan. Koelsch spent a final week at Bahrain, arriving on 21 March, before getting underway for the long journey home. The ship rendezvoused with Brumby on 9 April at Mombasa, Kenya, for a turnover of Middle East Force duties with and. Koelsch and Brumby operated in company during the voyage around the Cape of Good Hope to Mayport, making routine stops at Laurenco Marques, Mozambique, Luanda, Angola, Monrovia, Liberia, Recife, Brazil, Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Roosevelt Roads before reaching home on 18 May.
Koelsch entered a Regular Overhaul period at Charleston Naval Shipyard, South Carolina, on 17 June 1974. Originally scheduled for completion on 20 December, additional authorized work kept the ship in port until 19 March 1975. Work authorized during the overhaul included the installation of: SPS-40D air search radar, tactical air navigation system, Sewage Collection Holding and Transfer system, Aqueous Film Forming Foam machinery space fire fighting system, and rubberized AN/SQS-26 sonar dome. The ship also received major boiler and supercharger repairs, Impressed Current Cathodic Hull Protection system procedure, and received a helicopter hangar and deck for the Kaman SH-2 Seasprite Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System.
Returning to Mayport on 22 March 1975, Koelsch got underway again on 5 May to undergo Weapons System Acceptance Tests prior to equipment checkout and training at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center range at Andros Island, Bahamas. During the AUTEC period, the ship fired four exercise torpedoes and two ASROC missiles. After spending two days assisting submarines and with exercises, Koelsch entered port at Jacksonville, Florida on 16 May and received her first LAMPS helicopter, a Kaman SH-2 Seasprite of HSL-34. On 30 June 1975, Koelsch was redesignated as a frigate, "FF-1049". Following a visit to the degaussing range at Charleston on 7 July, the ship conducted refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, and on 15 August joined other U.S. Navy vessels for CaribEx 1-76. During this period, the Koelsch qualified in naval gunfire support at the Vieques Weapons Range on 18 August and conducted ASW operations with submarines and . After successfully passing her Operational Propulsion Examination , the frigate participated in two major exercises involving units from Mayport, Charleston, and Norfolk: CompTUEx 3-76 and CompTUEx 4-76. The ship received a Combat Systems Readiness Review, designed to groom all of the frigate's weapons systems.
After providing services to two submarines in the Charleston operating area, Koelsch conducted ASW operations in CaribEx 2-76.. The ship departed Mayport on 14 April for a major deployment to the Mediterranean, spending her first two weeks with the United States Sixth Fleet participating in NATO ASW exercise Open Gate 76. Following a two-week tender availability at Naples, Italy that began on 7 May, the ship participated in another ASW exercise Sharem XXI. The crew enjoyed five days at Brindisi, Italy, after which the ship received orders on 7 June to conduct a surveillance-oriented mission east of Crete. Koelsch steamed to a position southeast of Crete to stand by in alert status for Fluid Drive I, the first evacuation of American citizens from Beirut, Lebanon. The ship ended the month with a six-day visit to Syracuse, Sicily. After celebrating the United States Bicentennial at Messina, Sicily, the frigate got underway on 7 July to participate in ASW exercises that lasted until she arrived at Kithera Strait, off Greece, on the 19th. The same day the ship received orders to rendezvous with amphibious forces to participate in Fluid Drive II, the second U.S. evacuation from Beirut. Following another tender availability at Naples, Koelsch joined ASW-oriented exercise Galaxy Griddle, coinciding with surveillance missions, that lasted until 1 September. After a visit to Barcelona, Spain, the frigate spent the next nine days participating in ASW operation Side Saddle in addition to surveillance missions at Kithera. During her final two weeks in the Mediterranean Sea, the ship participated in Display Determination, a major NATO exercise. Turning over to and , Koelsch returned to Mayport on 25 October.
From 15 November 1976 to 15 January 1977, the ship received major modifications and repairs to the installed ASW tactical data system and to her propulsion plant. Koelsch got underway on 19 January with Detachment 6 of HSL-36 to participate in CaribEx 1-77, that included ASW operations and weapons systems qualifications. After a three-day visit to Port of Spain, Trinidad, beginning on 31 January, the ship completed NGFS qualifications at Vieques and returned to Mayport on 11 February. Getting underway again on the 28th, the frigate reached Norfolk on 2 March for eleven days of upkeep and preparation for the western Atlantic ASW exercise Operation Cleansweep. After two months of tender and restricted availabilities at Mayport, Koelsch participated in ASW exercises in the Narragansett Bay operational area off Rhode Island during the first week of June. While preparing for and receiving the Combat Systems Readiness Review, she acted as the host ship to the Spanish frigate Extremadura visiting Mayport. Koelsch operated with carrier in carrier task group training off Charleston and on 30 June held a dependents' cruise off Jacksonville.
Embarking Detachment 6 of HSL-36 on 8 July 1977, the ship departed Mayport three days later with Saratoga to deploy to the Mediterranean. Arriving at Gibraltar on 21 July for a three visit, the frigate participated in ASW Week I, Sharem XXIII, and National Week beginning 15 July. Sharem XXIII was used to gather raw data on submarine tracking for later analysis, and National Week was designed to evaluate tactical doctrine in a wartime scenario involving predominately U.S. ships. Following an extended port visit at Naples, Koelsch took part in gunfire exercises and ASW operations in the eastern Mediterranean and Ionian basin, as well as visited the Greek resort island of Skaithos, reportedly the first call by a U.S. warship in eight years. The ship then joined NATO forces in the multinational exercise Display Determination 77 before visiting Taranto, Italy. After visiting Palma de Mallorca, the frigate took part in ASW Week II, concluding on 4 November, followed by visits to Ibiza, Balearic Islands and Cartagena, Spain. Koelsch stopped at Toulon, France on 16 November for briefings in preparation for NATO exercise Iles D'or 77. The ship paid her final Mediterranean port visit to Saint Tropez, France, from 26 November to 4 December. She participated in ASW exercise Poopdeck 2-77 while in transit to Rota for turnover with the guided missile cruiser on the 9th. Conducting various exercises with Saratoga during the return voyage, the ship arrived at Mayport on 23 December.
Koelsch embarked Detachment 6 of HSL-36 on 1 February 1978 to participate in ReadiEx 1-78, including NGFS qualifications at Vieques and a visit to St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda. The exercise lasted until the 26th, and the ship arrived back at Mayport on 1 March. She got underway again on the 8th to participate in an exercise that was eventually cancelled. Directed to unload all her ammunition at Naval Weapons Station, Yorktown, Va., Koelsch returned home on 15 March to begin preparations for her regularly scheduled overhaul. Many weapons system components were removed including the forward and aft gun mounts, the gunfire control director, ASROC launcher, torpedo tubes, Mark 53 Attack Console, and the Mark 4 Gunfire Control System Console. The ship arrived at Bethlehem Steel Shipyard at Baltimore, Md., on 3 April for her ROH. Major work included the replacement of all weapons systems components removed at Mayport with refurbished units, modification of her sonar dome to a rubber window configuration, and the updating of the Naval Tactical Data System to a Mod. 4 program.
After conducting sea trials in the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia capes operations areas, Koelsch ended her ROH and departed Baltimore, Maryland on 27 June 1979, onloaded ammunition at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, and reached Mayport on 1 July. During July and August the ship participated in training two groups of United States Naval Academy and Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps midshipmen in addition to type training, Weapons System Acceptance Tests, and sound trials. She took part in CompTUEx 1-80 including Naval Gunfire Support qualifications at Vieques. From 13 October to 26 November, the frigate prepared for overseas deployment including the replacement of her SQR-17 sonar with an SQS-54.