USS ''Moinester'' (FF-1097) was a . The ship was named for LTJG Robert W. Moinester who was killed in action during the

Battle of Huế The Battle of Huế (31 January 1968 – 2 March 1968), also called the Siege of Huế, was a major military engagement in the Tết Offensive launched by North Vietnam and the Việt Cộng during the Vietnam War. After initially losing cont ...

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. USS Moinster (FF-1097) 1983

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 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 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. The turbine was designed to produce , using steam provided by 2 C-E boilers, 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 The Mark 42 5"/54 caliber gun (127mm) is a naval gun (naval artillery) mount used by the United States Navy and other countries. It consisted of the Mark 18 gun and Mark 42 gun mount. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fires a p ...

forward and a single

3-inch/50-caliber gun The 3"/50 caliber gun (spoken "three-inch fifty-caliber") in United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile in diameter, and the barrel was 50 calibers long (barrel length is 3 in × 50 = ). Different guns (identifi ...

aft. They mounted an eight-round RUR-5 ASROC launcher between the gun and the bridge. 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 aft of the MACK. Beginning in the 1970s, the DASH was replaced by a SH-2 Seasprite 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