USS Clark (FFG-11)

The second USS Clark (FFG-11), the fifth ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry class of guided-missile frigates, was named for Admiral Joseph James "Jocko" Clark (1893–1971).

For other ships with the same name, see USS Clark.

A starboard bow view of the guided-missile frigate USS Clark underway, 1981.
History
United States
Name: Clark
Namesake: Admiral Joseph James "Jocko" Clark (1893–1971)
Ordered: 27 February 1976
Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Laid down: 17 July 1978
Launched: 24 March 1979
Sponsored by: Mrs. Olga Clark, widow of Admiral Clark
Commissioned: 9 May 1980
Decommissioned: 15 March 2000
Stricken: 15 March 2000
Homeport: Norfolk, Virginia (former)
Identification:
Motto: "Determined Warrior"
Fate: Disposed of through the Security Assistance Program (SAP)
Badge:
ORP Generał Kazimierz Pułaski moored in Gdynia
Poland
Name: Generał Kazimierz Pułaski
Namesake: United States Brigadier General Kazimierz Pułaski
Acquired: 15 March 2000
Commissioned: 25 June 2000
Identification: 272
General characteristics
Class and type: Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate
Displacement: 4,100 long tons (4,200 t), full load
Length: 445 feet (136 m), overall
Beam: 45 feet (14 m)
Draft: 22 feet (6.7 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: over 29 knots (54 km/h)
Range: 5,000 nautical miles at 18 knots (9,300 km at 33 km/h)
Complement: 15 officers and 190 enlisted, plus SH-60 LAMPS detachment of roughly six officer pilots and 15 enlisted maintainers
Sensors and
processing systems:
Electronic warfare
& decoys:		 AN/SLQ-32
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 1 × SH-60 LAMPS III helicopter[1]

History

Ordered from Bath Iron Works on 27 February 1976 as part of the FY76 program, Clark was laid down on 17 July 1978, launched on 24 March 1979, and commissioned on 9 May 1980. The Ship sponsor was Mrs. Olga Clark, the widow of Admiral Clark.

In July 1982, Clark recovered three sailors that were washed overboard from the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain.[2] A fourth sailor was not recovered and was lost at sea.[3]

In December 1992, Clark was nearby when the crew of an F-14 was forced to eject during training operations off the coast of Virginia. Clark's helicopter rescued the radar intercept officer and a United States Coast Guard helicopter rescued the pilot.[4]

In April 1994, Clark changed homeports from Newport, Rhode Island, to Norfolk, Virginia.[5] The ship had previously been homeported in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from the mid-1980s to 1992 and Mayport, Florida before that.

Decommissioned and stricken on 15 March 2000, she was handed over to Poland that same day to become the Polish Navy's ORP Generał Kazimierz Pułaski, after Kazimierz Pułaski, a Pole who was appointed the rank of brigadier general in the Continental Army cavalry and fought in the American Revolutionary War.

Awards

Clark and her crew received the following unit awards, according to the US Navy unit awards website:[6]

Clark was also nominated for the United States Public Health Service Outstanding Unit Citation for operations from 24 June 1994 to 12 July 1994, but did not receive the award. The ship was reported near Haiti in mid-July 1994[7] around the time many refugees were fleeing Haiti in small boats.[8]

References

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.

  1. "USS Clark (FFG 11)". navysite.de. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  2. "Sailor Missing from Carrier". Daily News Record. Harrisonburg, Virginia. Associated Press. 7 July 1982.
  3. "Man Overboard: Sailor Recalls Ordeal". The Winchester Star. Winchester, Virginia. 15 July 1982.
  4. "Navy Jet Crashes into Ocean". Daily Press. Hampton Roads, Virginia. 16 December 1992.
  5. "Underway for Good". Pacific Stars And Stripes. Associated Press. 18 April 1994.
  6. "Unit Awards". US Navy. Archived from the original on 14 October 2004.
  7. "Haitian Crisis Deepens". European Stars And Stripes. Associated Press. 16 July 1994.
  8. "Haitians to go to Guantanamo". Syracuse Herald-Journal. Syracuse, New York. Associated Press. 29 June 1994.
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