USS O'Callahan (FF-1051)

USS O'Callahan (FF-1051)
Career (US)
Namesake:	Joseph T. O'Callahan
Ordered:	21 March 1963
Builder:	Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan
Laid down:	19 February 1964
Launched:	20 October 1965
Acquired:	1 July 1968
Commissioned:	13 July 1968
Decommissioned:	20 December 1988
Struck:	29 November 1993
Fate:	Sold to Trusha Investments Pte. Ltd, c/o Jacques Pierot, Jr. & Sons, Inc., of New York City for over $600,000. Scrapped in Hong Kong.
Career (Pakistan)
Acquired:	8 February 1989 (leased)
Out of service:	11 December 1993
Renamed:	Aslat (F-265)
Fate:	Returned to US, 11 December 1993
General characteristics
Class & type:	Garcia class frigate
Displacement:	2,624 tons (light) 3,400 tons full
Length:	414 ft 6 in (126.34 m)
Beam:	44 ft 1 in (13.44 m)
Draft:	24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Propulsion:	2 Foster-Wheeler boilers, 1 General Electric turbine, 35,000 shp, single screw
Speed:	27 knots
Range:	4,000 nautical miles (7,000 km) at 20 knots (40 km/h)
Complement:	16 officers 231 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-40 air search radar AN/SPS-10 surface search radar AN/SQS-26 bow mounted sonar
Armament:	2 x 5"/38 Mk 30(2x1) 1 8-tube ASROC Mk16 launcher (16 missiles) 6 x 12.75 in (324mm) Mk 32 (2x3) torpedo tubes, Mk 46 torpedoes 2 x MK 37 torpedo tubes (fixed, stern) (removed later)
Aircraft carried:	Gyrodyne QH-50 (planned) / SH-2 LAMPS
Motto:	Faithful and Brave

USS O'Callahan (FF-1051) was a U.S. Navy Garcia class destroyer escort, later reclassified as a frigate. She was named for Chaplain Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O'Callahan, a Medal of Honor recipient for his rescue of crewmen on the aircraft carrier Franklin (CV-13) after it was hit and severely damaged by enemy bombs.

History

The O'Callahan was laid down on 19 February 1964 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan and was launched on 20 October 1965. She was sponsored by Chaplain O'Callahan's sister, Sister Rose Marie O'Callahan of the Philippines Maryknoll College, the first nun to sponsor a U.S. Navy ship. She was commissioned on 13 July 1968 at the Boston Naval Shipyard, Boston, Massachusetts, with Captain Robert L. Brown commanding.

On 16 August 1968, after her fitting-out at Boston, O'Callahan departed for her homeport of San Diego, California. En route she called at Norfolk, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She stood out of San Diego on 1 October for twenty five days of electronics and weapons systems tests off the Pacific Northwest, then commenced shakedown on 4 November. After at-sea training operations off the Hawaiian Islands from 6 through 17 February 1969, she entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard on 4 March for post-shakedown availability through mid-May. She then conducted further training operations out of San Diego in preparation for her first deployment to the Western Pacific.

Former Brooke (right) and O'Callahan (left) during service to Pakistan.

[1969-1975]

On 30 June 1975 O'Callahan was reclassified as a frigate and given the designation FF-1051.

[1975-1989]

O'Callahan served until 31 May 1989, when she was decommissioned and leased to Pakistan. However, following Pakistan's refusal to halt its nuclear weapons program, the lease was cancelled in 1994. She was returned to United States custody at Singapore on 19 August 1994 and stricken from the Navy Register the same day. On 9 September she was transferred to the Maritime Administration and sold to Trusha Investments Pte. Ltd, c/o Jacques Pierot, Jr. & Sons, Inc., of New York City for over $600,000. She was then towed to Hong Kong and scrapped.

References

• K. Jack Bauer and Stephen S. Roberts, Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990
• Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1947-1995
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.