Sunday, March 18, 2012 I promised another series of photos of a Perry class fast frigate which visitors could board, so here comes the first photo of USS Reid (FFG-30). The photo was taken in 1991 when the ship was visiting San Francisco. The photos were scanned from the paper copies since my scanner can’t scan slides or negatives any more. We see the ship from the port aft. On the right stern are the two towed array sonar outlets. Above, we see the landing area for the LAMPS helecopters. Beyond, we see the two large doors leading into the helecopter hangar. These open by rolling upwards, like a garage door. Between the doors is the control “tower” for the helecopters. Just above the control “tower” is the CIWS Phalanx gattling gun (which was missing on the USS Estocin – see earlier post). This is for close in defence against cruise missiles and airplanes. To the left can be seen the ships main mast with electronic equipment. Beyond the side of the hangar we can see a ships boat in its davits. Foreward of that is the bridge (black due to shadow). About the USS Reid (FFG-30) – Perry class fast frigate Built – October 1980 – June 1981 Commissioned – February 19, 1983 Length – 453 feet Beam – 45 feet Draught – 22 feet Weight – 4,200 tons Power – 41,000 horse power Shafts – One, plus two 350 horse power retractable docking azipods Range – 5,000 nautical miles @ 18 knots Speed – 29 knots Complement – 205 officers and crew 21 LAMPS helecopter pilots and maintenance crew Armament - Diverse electronic sensing systems One OTO Melara 76 mm. 62 caliber gun Two triple tube 324 mm. torpedo tubes One Phalanx CIWS gattling type gun Four .50 caliber/12.7 mm. machine guns One launcher for Harpoon anti-ship missiles or SM-1MR anti-ship anti-aircraft missiles. Two SH-60 LAMPS helecopters Service – During the 1980s she repeatedly played on the “Orange Team” during fleet excercises. August 18, 1990 – opening shot of Operation Desert Shield when she shot across the bow of an Iraki tanker that refused to alter course. Decommissioned September 25, 1998. Trasnsferred to Turkey under the name TCG Gelibolu (F493) on January 5, 1999. The ship is still in active service. Enjoy!