USS Sides (FFG-14)

USS Sides (FFG-14) is an Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate that served in the US Navy.

USS Sides entering San Francisco Bay in 2002
History
United States
Name: Sides
Namesake: Admiral John H. Sides
Ordered: 27 February 1976
Builder: Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, California
Laid down: 7 August 1978
Launched: 19 May 1979
Sponsored by: Mrs. Joanne Sides Watson, daughter of Adm. Sides
Commissioned: 30 May 1981
Decommissioned: 28 February 2003
Stricken: 24 May 2004
Homeport: NS San Diego, California (former)
Identification:
Motto: "Savvy"
Fate: 15 December 2014, contract for vessel demilitarization, dismantling, and recycling
Status: 15 June 2015, arrived under tow at Southern Recycling, Sulphur, Louisiana
Badge:
General characteristics [1]
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)
Draught: 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-2F LAMPS I[2]

History

The eighth ship in the class, it was named for Admiral John H. Sides (died 1978). Ordered from Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, California, on 27 February 1976 as part of the FY76 program, Sides was laid down on 7 August 1978, launched on 19 May 1979, and commissioned on 30 May 1981. Sides ship sponsor was Mrs. Joanne Sides Watson, daughter of Admiral Sides.

Sides escorted tankers through the Straits of Hormuz during the Tanker War and participated in Operation Praying Mantis, the retaliation for Iranian mining operations.[3] Sides was also part of the Surface Action Group under USS Vincennes when Iran Air 655 was shot down. Sides and her crew received a Meritorious Unit Commendation for the time period 13 April 1988 to 25 July 1988.[4] The following year, Commander David R. Carlson authored an article in U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings in which Carlson called into question Vincennes' self-defense justification for the use of force and wrote, "Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down for no good reason."[5] Capt. Will Rogers of Vincennes and David L. Dillon, speaking on behalf of the US Navy, challenged Carlson's account of events.

Sides and her crew received Navy E Ribbons for the 18-month period, July 1983 to December 1984, and for the years 1995, 1999 and 2000.[4]

Sides was decommissioned on 28 February 2003 and as of 2014 was laid up in reserve at Naval Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility Bremerton, Washington.

Sides was expected to join the Portuguese Navy in 2006, together with her sister ship George Philip, but the Portuguese Navy dropped the offer and chose two Dutch Karel Doorman-class frigates instead. Sides was expected to join the Turkish Navy in the summer of 2008, together with her sister ship George Philip, but the Turkish Navy dropped the offer.

Further reading
  • Wise, Harold Lee (2007). Inside the Danger Zone: The U.S. Military in the Persian Gulf 1987–88. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-970-3.

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 Sides (FFG 14)". Navesource.org. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  2. "USS Sides (FFG 14)". Navysite.de. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  4. "Unit Awards". US Navy. Archived from the original on 14 October 2004.
  5. Bryna Brennan (1 September 1989). "Commander Says Vincennes Tragedy Was Avoidable". Associated Press. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
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