The ''Bronstein''-class frigates were

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

warships, originally laid down as

ocean escort Ocean escort was a type of United States Navy warship. They were an evolution of the World War II destroyer escort types. The ocean escorts were intended as convoy escorts and were designed for mobilization production in wartime or low-cost mass ...

s (formerly called destroyer escorts), but were all redesignated as

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

s on 30 June 1975 in the

United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification The United States Navy reclassified many of its surface vessels in 1975, changing terminology and hull classification symbols for cruisers, frigates, and ocean escorts. Classification prior to 1975 From the 1950s to 1975, the US Navy had three t ...

and their hull designation changed from DE to FF. The lead ship of the class was , laid down 16 May 1961 and commissioned 15 June 1963, at Avondale Shipyards, Louisiana. A second and final ship, ''

USS McCloy USS ''McCloy'' (FF-1038) was the second and final . Commissioned as a destroyer escort, ''McCloy'' was redesignated as frigate on 30 June 1975. Decommissioned on 14 December 1990, and stricken from the Navy list on 4 October 1991, ''McCloy'' was ...

'', was laid down in parallel with ''Bronstein''. This class comprised the second generation of post-World War II destroyer escorts. These ships can be considered developmental vessels as many new systems were installed to test for future use, such as a new hull design, larger bow-mounted

AN/SQS-26 AN/SQS-26 was a United States Navy surface ship, bow mounted, low frequency, active/passive sonar developed by the Naval Underwater Sound Laboratory and built by General Electric and the EDO Corporation. At one point, it was installed on 87 US Nav ...

AX sonar system, and ASW weaponry. This class was a new design from the keel up, incorporating the

FRAM Fram may refer to: Ships * ''Fram'' (ship), an arctic exploration vessel from Norway * MS ''Fram'', expedition cruise ship owned by Hurtigruten Group Places and geography * Fram, Paraguay, a town in Itapúa, Paraguay * Fram Formation, a se ...

improvements, and was specifically designed to operate the

DASH The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

drone helicopter. The sonar was later upgraded to the AN/SQS-26AX(R). The top weight of the new ASW equipment and the large bow-mounted sonar made the ''Bronstein'' frigates too slow to operate with the ASW task forces for which they had been designed. Thus the US Navy decided against any further procurement of ships of this class. The later s were given a larger power plant and greater speed.

Ships

Only two ships of this class were built: and . Both were later sold to the Mexican Navy.

''Bronstein''

*Built by: Avondale Shipyards,

Avondale, Louisiana Avondale is a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the west bank of the Mississippi River. The population was 4,582 in 2020. It is part of the New Orleans– Metairie–Kenner metropolitan statist ...

*Laid down: 16 May 1961 *Launched: 31 March 1962 *Commissioned: 15 June 1963 *Reclassified: As

(FF) 30 June 1975 *Operations: US Pacific Fleet *Decommissioned: 13 December 1990 *Stricken: 13 December 1990 *Sold: To

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, 1 October 1993; renamed ''Hermenegildo Galeana'' (E-42); later ARM ''Hermenegildo Galeana'' (F202)

''McCloy''

*Built by: Avondale Shipyards,

*Laid down: 1 September 1961 *Launched: 9 June 1962 *Commissioned: 21 October 1963 *Reclassified: As

(FF) 30 June 1975 *Operations:

US Atlantic Fleet The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Stat ...

*Decommissioned: 14 December 1990 *Stricken: 17 December 1990 *Sold: To

, 1 October 1993; renamed ARM ''Nicolas Bravo'' (E-40); later ARM ''Nicolas Bravo'' (F201) At one time USS ''McCloy'' held the record for largest military drug bust at 49.5 tons of marijuana (late 1980s). A sea-going

tug A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

was forcefully boarded after an overnight chase while the tug's crew tossed bales of cocaine overboard and weapons fire was released the following morning at dawn. One of the tug's crew was wounded by .50 caliber gunfire and was helo'd off. A Coast Guard detachment estimated the amount and an attempt was made to tow the tug to port. The tug had too much damage and sank in the night after several attempts to salvage her. ''McCloy'' made many drug busts late in her life, received several citations and was painted with marijuana leaves for each bust. Other notables include involvement in the rescue of the crew of the

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

. One of the last US Navy diesel submarines, it had a battery compartment fire and was abandoned by her crew off the coast of Florida. ''McCloy'' ran lifeguard ops and eventually was designated the tow vessel to bring ''Bonefish'' to

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

Notes

Sources

USS ''McCloy''
– navsource.org

– Gyrodyne Helicopter Historical Foundation

External links

''Bronstein''-class frigates
a
Destroyer History Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronstein