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USS Patterson (FF-1061)
Encyclopedia
USS Patterson (FF-1061) was a United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
Knox class frigate
Knox class frigate
Knox class frigates were United States Navy warships, originally laid down as ocean escorts , but were all redesignated as frigates on 30 June 1975 in the USN 1975 ship reclassification and their hull designation changed from DE to FF.A sub-class of the Knox class was built, commonly referred to as...
in commission from 1970 to 1991. She was named in honor of Commodore Daniel Todd Patterson
Daniel Patterson
Daniel Todd Patterson was an officer in the United States Navy during the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War and the War of 1812.-Biography:...
(1786-1839), who performed distinguished service at New Orleans during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
.
Patterson was built at Westwego, Louisiana
Westwego, Louisiana
Westwego is a city in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a suburb of New Orleans. The population was 10,763 at the 2000 census. It lies along the west bank of the Mississippi River.-Geography:...
by Avondale Shipyard
Avondale Shipyard
Avondale Shipyard was an independent shipbuilding company, acquired by Litton Industries, in turn acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation. Now, along with the former Ingalls Shipbuilding, the yard is part of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. The yard is located on the West Bank of the Mississippi...
. She was commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
on 14 March 1970, conducted shakedown
Shakedown (testing)
A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...
training out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in June and August 1971 made her first overseas deployment, a trip to northern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Her next deployment, to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
for service with the Sixth Fleet, took place during the first half of 1974. When all newer escort ships were reclassified as frigates in mid-1975, Patterson became FF-1061. At about this time she was also updated, receiving enlarged helicopter facilities and the Basic Point Defense Missile System, whose launcher for eight "Sea Sparrow" guided missiles was installed on her afterdeck.
Patterson made another Mediterranean cruise from late 1976 to mid-1977 and a third in 1978 and early 1979. In September and October 1979 the ship returned to northern European waters and in mid-1980 she provided help to the West Indies island of St. Lucia after it was hit by a devastating hurricane. After steaming east to the Mediterranean in October 1980, Patterson voyaged onward to make a tour of the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
during the last months of that year and the first month of 1981. A fifth Sixth Fleet cruise followed from late in 1981 into 1982, with Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
operations at the end of the deployment. The frigate earned a Meritorious Unit Commendation
Meritorious Unit Commendation
The Meritorious Unit Commendation is a mid-level unit award of the United States military which is awarded to any military command which displays exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service, heroic deeds, or valorous actions....
for her activities during this time.
In June 1983 Patterson was assigned to the Naval Reserve Force, based at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. She remained in this non-deploying status for the next eight years, making frequent cruises in the western Atlantic area, from Canada to the West Indies, to keep Naval Reservists' training up to date.
In late 1990 Patterson conducted counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
, taking a two-way passage through the Panama Canal
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
as part of her work. A final cruise, to Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
in May 1991, was followed by decommissioning
Ship decommissioning
To decommission a ship is to terminate her career in service in the armed forces of her nation. A somber occasion, it has little of the elaborate ceremony of ship commissioning, but carries significant tradition....
on 30 September 1991.
After more than three years in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Patterson was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...
on 11 January 1995. Though later considered for transfer to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
as a source of spare parts, she remained in U.S. Navy custody until late September 1999, when a contract was let for her scrapping. The ship was broken up at Baltimore, Maryland, during the rest of 1999 and the first half of 2000.