USS ''Moinester'' (FF-1097) was a . The ship was named for
LTJG
Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies.
United States
Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), is ...
Robert W. Moinester who was killed in action during the
Battle of Huế on 31 January 1968 and was posthumously awarded the
Silver Star
The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...
. ''Moinester'' was christened by Mrs. Gertrude Mahoney Moinester, the mother of the ship's namesake and
ship sponsor
A ship sponsor, by tradition, is a female civilian who is invited to "sponsor" a vessel, presumably to bestow good luck and divine protection over the seagoing vessel and all that sail aboard. In the United States Navy and the United States Coast ...
.
Design and description
The ''Knox''-class design was derived from the modified to extend range and without a long-range missile system. The ships had an
overall length
The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...
of , a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a
draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
of . They
displaced at full load. Their crew consisted of 13 officers and 211 enlisted men.
The ships were equipped with one
Westinghouse geared
steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
that drove the single
propeller shaft
A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...
. The turbine was designed to produce , using steam provided by 2
C-E boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...
s, to reach the designed speed of . The ''Knox'' class had a range of at a speed of .
[Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 598]
The ''Knox''-class ships were armed with a
5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun forward and a single
3-inch/50-caliber gun aft. They mounted an eight-round
RUR-5 ASROC
The RUR-5 ASROC (for "Anti-Submarine Rocket") is an all-weather, all sea-conditions anti-submarine missile system. Developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it was deployed in the 1960s, updated in the 1990s, and eventually installed ...
launcher between the gun and the
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two twin
Mk 32 torpedo tubes. The ships were equipped with a torpedo-carrying
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; its telescoping hangar and landing pad were positioned
amidships
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...
aft of the MACK. Beginning in the 1970s, the DASH was replaced by a
SH-2 Seasprite
The Kaman SH-2 Seasprite is a ship-based helicopter originally developed and produced by American manufacturer Kaman Aircraft Corporation. It has been typically used as a compact and fast-moving rotorcraft for utility and anti-submarine warfar ...
LAMPS I helicopter and the hangar and landing deck were accordingly enlarged. Most ships also had the gun replaced by an eight-cell
BPDMS missile launcher in the early 1970s.
[Friedman, pp. 360–61; Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 598]
Construction and career
''Moinester'' was decommissioned and sold to the
Egyptian Navy
The Egyptian Navy ( ar, القوات البحرية المصرية, El-Quwwāt el-Bahareya el-Miṣriyya, Egyptian Navy Forces), also known as the Egyptian Naval Force, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy ...
and became the Egyptian frigate ''Rasheed'' (F966).
Awards, citations and campaign ribbons
Notes
References
*
*
USS ''Moinester'' on NavSource.org
External links
*
* A Sailor's Homepage: http://FF1097.dancom.com; alt: http://www.dancom.com/ff1097
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moinester (FF-1097)
Knox-class frigates
Ships built in Bridge City, Louisiana
1973 ships
Cold War frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States
Knox-class frigates of the Egyptian Navy
Frigates of Egypt