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USS McCloy (FF 1038)

USS McCLOY was the second and final ship in the BRONSTEIN - class. Commisioned as a destroyer escort, the McCLOY was redesignated as frigate on June 30, 1975. Decommissioned on December 14, 1990, and stricken from the Navy list on October 4, 1991, the McCLOY was sold to Mexico on November 12, 1993, where she was recommissioned as NICOLAS BRAVO.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS McCLOY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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Accidents aboard USS McCLOY:

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About the Ship's Name:

Lt. Comdr. John McCloy, recipient of two Medals of Honor, was born 30 January 1876 at Brewster, N.Y. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy 7 March 1903, was warranted boatswain 30 July 1903 and commissioned ensign 1 July 1917. He received his first Medal of Honor “for distinguished conduct in the presence of the enemy in battles of the 13th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd of June 1900, while with the relief expedition of the Allied Forces in China.” His second Medal of Honor was awarded to him “for distinguished conduct in battle and extraordinary heroism; engagement of Vera Cruz, April 22, 1914.” Immediately after World War I, he commanded minesweeper CURLEW clearing the mines of the North Sea mine barrage. For this work he was decorated with the Navy Cross. He retired from active duty, as lieutenant, 15 October 1928 and on 23 February 1942 was promoted to lieutenant commander, retired. He died 25 May 1945 at Leonia, N.J., and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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USS McCLOY History:

USS McCLOY was the second and final ship of the BRONSTEIN-class, a two-ship class of ocean escorts developed for the United States Navy primarily for antisubmarine warfare during the Cold War. The construction contract for McCLOY was awarded on June 13, 1960. Her keel was laid by Avondale Shipyards at Westwego, Louisiana, on September 15, 1961, and she was launched on June 9, 1962, sponsored by Mrs. Arthur Winstead, wife of U.S. Representative William Arthur Winstead of Mississippi. McCLOY was commissioned at Charleston Naval Shipyard, South Carolina, on October 21, 1963, with Lieutenant Commander Thomas Hanson Sherman Jr. as her first commanding officer.

Following fitting out and shakedown, McCLOY was assigned to Escort Squadron 10 and reported to her home port at Newport, Rhode Island, in January 1964. After further specialized training, she began training sonar technicians in October. Because McCLOY and BRONSTEIN carried the first production SQS-26 installations, their early careers included a significant amount of testing, evaluation, and tactical development in addition to normal fleet operations. McCLOY continued this work through much of 1965. She was employed primarily as a school ship for sonar personnel and also tested antisubmarine warfare equipment for the Operational Test and Evaluation Force. She participated in joint American-Canadian exercises during the spring and autumn and in further antisubmarine exercises toward the end of the year.

An important test occurred in September 1965, when engineers from the Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory embarked aboard McCLOY for an eight-day NATO convoy-protection exercise in the Atlantic off the northeastern United States. Six submarines opposed the surface force. Environmental conditions favored surface-duct acoustic propagation, and McCLOY made four completely unalerted submarine detections with her SQS-26 at ranges between approximately 10 and 22 kiloyards. Three of these detections were followed by successful simulated antisubmarine attacks. The event provided the first documented free-play fleet results obtained with a production SQS-26 sonar.

During 1966, McCLOY continued an intensive Atlantic Fleet training schedule. In April, she operated in the Bermuda area during NATO exercises. During June, July, and August she took part in convoy-escort and antisubmarine warfare exercises off the New England and Virginia coasts, and during November and December she operated in the Caribbean in fleet tactical exercises. The concentration on antisubmarine warfare reflected the continuing expansion of the Soviet conventional and nuclear-powered submarine forces and the importance placed on protection of the North Atlantic sea lanes.

On January 16, 1967, McCLOY began participation in Exercise Matchmaker III. The multinational NATO operation was intended to improve the ability of warships from different allied navies to function as an integrated formation. For McCLOY the assignment lasted until May 24 and took her from the Caribbean across the Atlantic to northern European waters and later back to North America. American, British, Dutch, and Canadian ships participated in the program. An important aspect of Matchmaker III was the exchange of personnel between ships, known during the operation as cross-pollination. Members of McCLOY's crew temporarily served aboard the Dutch destroyer HNLMS LIMBURG (D 814) and the British frigate HMS BERWICK (F 115), while Dutch and British sailors joined McCLOY. The arrangement allowed personnel to gain direct experience with different NATO equipment, operating practices, communications procedures, and antisubmarine techniques.

During March 1967, the multinational squadron operated in the North Sea. USS ZELLARS (DD 777), HNLMS ZEELAND (D 809), and other allied ships operated with McCLOY during this phase, and photographs document high-line transfer evolutions between McCLOY and ZEELAND as well as DASH operations from the American escort. HMS EURYALUS (F 15) joined the force on March 31 in relief of BERWICK. The squadron subsequently proceeded north and conducted operations with the Royal Norwegian Navy, accompanied by short visits to Bodo, Harstad, and Tromso. The deployment later included Reykjavik, Iceland, Argentia in Newfoundland, Newport, and Montreal, Canada. McCLOY detached from Matchmaker III on May 24. The Matchmaker series formed part of NATO's effort to establish procedures for multinational standing naval formations in the Atlantic.

The latter half of 1967 and the opening months of 1968 were devoted largely to an overhaul at Boston. McCLOY returned to sea in March 1968 and sailed south in April for refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She returned to Newport in June and soon prepared for another extended deployment.

McCLOY departed Newport on July 8, 1968, and reached San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 11. There, she joined naval forces assembling for UNITAS IX. The annual UNITAS deployments combined U.S. ships with South American naval forces for exercises in antisubmarine warfare, surface operations, communications, and other maritime disciplines. On July 15, the participating force began a clockwise circumnavigation of South America. During the Atlantic phase, ships and aircraft from eight nations participated in exercises. The force continued south, rounded Cape Horn, and conducted further multinational operations along the Pacific coast of South America before eventually passing through the Panama Canal and returning to the Caribbean.

The deployment also gave McCLOY an oceanographic assignment connected directly with antisubmarine warfare. The U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office installed an oceanographic winch aboard the ship as well as a portable laboratory and office van. Navy oceanographers accompanying the force collected information concerning water conditions and bathymetry. During port periods in Argentina and Chile they also conducted professional exchanges with personnel of national hydrographic organizations. Such information was important to long-range sonar operations because acoustic performance depended heavily upon water temperature, depth, bottom characteristics, and other environmental conditions. McCLOY completed the circumnavigation and returned to Atlantic Fleet operations before the end of 1968.

In 1969, McCLOY became involved in another important phase of SQS-26 tactical development. Commander William A. Myers III became Commander Destroyer Division 262 with the Sixth Fleet in June, and during July he embarked in McCLOY at Naples, Italy, for a series of acoustic measurements and free-play antisubmarine exercises. Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory personnel also participated. McCLOY was by then equipped with the improved SQS-26 AXR configuration. At noon on July 7, 1969, McCLOY began a convergence-zone search in the Ionian Sea. After nearly twenty hours of searching, she obtained sonar contact at 0742 on July 8 at a range of approximately 41 kiloyards. At 0817, McCLOY vectored a Navy land-based patrol aircraft toward the contact. The aircraft sighted bubbles, detected a passive signal with sonobuoys, and obtained magnetic anomaly detector contact. When the aircraft began active sonobuoy operations at 0829, the submarine increased speed and maneuvered evasively, and contact was lost. McCLOY was subsequently diverted temporarily to a search-and-rescue assignment.

At 0137 on July 9, the patrol aircraft sighted a Soviet FOXTROT-class submarine on the surface approximately 18 miles southwest of the previous datum. The submarine submerged and aircraft contact was again lost. McCLOY was released from her search-and-rescue assignment at 0915 and began searching the calculated probability area based upon the submarine's last observed course and speed. At 0330 on July 10, McCLOY regained convergence-zone contact after approximately six hours of renewed searching. She also intercepted radar transmissions and again directed a patrol aircraft into magnetic-anomaly-detection range. Contact was finally lost at 1749 after approximately fourteen hours of continuous tracking following reacquisition. The operation provided a practical demonstration of long-range SQS-26 convergence-zone search and coordinated surface-ship and maritime-patrol-aircraft operations against an actual Soviet submarine in Mediterranean conditions.

Later in July 1969, McCLOY participated in another antisubmarine exercise in the Tyrrhenian Sea. A U.S. conventional submarine was assigned to operate within a defined one-degree-square area while attempting to avoid detection. A Navy patrol aircraft initially detected the submarine but subsequently lost contact. Approximately two hours later, McCLOY obtained an active convergence-zone sonar contact. McCLOY directed the patrol aircraft back toward the target, allowing it to regain magnetic-anomaly contact and subsequently sight the submarine's periscope. She later directed the guided-missile destroyer USS BARNEY (DDG 6), which carried an SQS-23 sonar, toward the submarine. BARNEY acquired direct-path sonar contact at a range of approximately 0.6 kiloyards and completed a simulated antisubmarine attack. The exercise became an early documented example of an SQS-26-equipped ship using a long-range convergence-zone detection to direct another surface combatant into short-range attack position.

McCLOY returned to the normal Atlantic Fleet cycle of training and maintenance after these operations. During the summer and autumn of 1972, McCLOY returned to northern European and Arctic waters, operating with the antisubmarine warfare carrier USS INTREPID (CVS 11). McCLOY combined her SQS-26 AXR with the carrier's SH-3 Sea King antisubmarine helicopters during operations north of the Arctic Circle. The force operated in northern waters near the Soviet Northern Fleet's operating area and encountered surveillance by Soviet aircraft and surface ships.

A documented port call occurred at Arhus, Denmark, from July 25 through July 31, 1972. The submarine USS GREENFISH (SS 351), which had departed Groton on July 10 for a northern European cruise and NATO exercises, was in Arhus at the same time. Oceanographic records also place McCLOY in the English Channel, North Atlantic, and North Sea during November 1972.

In early 1973, McCLOY's home port was shifted from Newport to Norfolk, Virginia, and she became a unit of Destroyer Squadron 2. During 1973, she also operated in the Mediterranean. By this period, the QH-50 DASH system had been removed from McCLOY. Her flight deck and hangar were not large enough to operate the manned SH-2 Seasprite LAMPS helicopter that replaced DASH aboard many later escorts. The former DASH spaces, however, eventually proved useful for additional electronic and antisubmarine equipment.

McCLOY participated in another major NATO deployment in September 1974. The cruiser USS NEWPORT NEWS (CA 148) departed Norfolk on September 6 for a NATO cruise and conducted a towing exercise with McCLOY on September 7. On September 9, McCLOY was photographed in the North Atlantic while participating in NATO Exercise Northern Merger. On September 12, McCLOY refueled from the replenishment oiler USS SAVANNAH (AOR 4) in heavy North Atlantic weather. Official Navy photographs show the escort pitching deeply while maintaining station alongside the oiler. Northern Merger involved allied naval forces conducting maritime operations in the North Atlantic and northern European approaches as NATO exercised sea-control and reinforcement procedures during the continuing Cold War confrontation with the Warsaw Pact.

On June 30, 1975, the Navy implemented its fleet-wide ship classification changes. McCLOY was redesignated from ocean escort DE 1038 to frigate FF 1038. Her hull number remained unchanged.

During 1976, McCLOY took part in Mediterranean antisubmarine development work with a specialized Sixth Fleet group. Other ships involved included USS MOINSTER (FF 1097), CONNOLE (FF 1056), VOGE (FF 1047), and KOELSCH (FF 1049). All carried variants of the SQS-26 sonar, while some of the larger escorts also possessed towed arrays and LAMPS helicopters. The group was used to develop methods for combining long-range sonar contacts, aircraft, and different surface platforms against submarines operating in the Mediterranean.

McCLOY's own major transition to passive towed-array operations followed in 1977. During an availability at Boston Naval Shipyard she received the AN/SQR-15 Towed Array Surveillance System, or TASS. Installation required significant modification of the after part of the ship. The single aft 3-inch gun was removed to create space for the large towing reel and associated deck equipment on the fantail. A large equipment van containing acoustic-processing equipment was installed inside the former DASH hangar. The system used several thousand feet of tow cable and a modular passive hydrophone array streamed well astern of the ship. By moving the receiving sensors away from the ship's own machinery noise, the array enabled McCLOY to detect and classify low-frequency submarine acoustic signatures at long range without transmitting active sonar.

After this availability, McCLOY returned to overseas operations. On October 10, 1977, she arrived at Barcelona, Spain, during a Mediterranean deployment. She berthed in the southern part of the harbor near the petroleum pier and remained there until October 27. Another documented port call followed at Genoa, Italy, where McCLOY was photographed on November 14. She subsequently returned to Atlantic Fleet duties.

McCLOY was again deployed to the Mediterranean during the period extending from late 1978 into 1979. On March 6, 1979, she arrived at Barcelona in company with the guided-missile cruiser USS BIDDLE (CG 34). BIDDLE berthed at South Pier 1, with McCLOY moored alongside. The port call came during a period in which McCLOY continued intensive Sixth Fleet antisubmarine operations using both the SQS-26 and her passive towed array.

On February 3, 1981, McCLOY departed for the Mediterranean as part of Transit Group Two. The group was commanded by Rear Admiral Henry C. Mustin and included USS WAINWRIGHT (CG 28), USS TRUETT (FF 1095), USS JONAS INGRAM (DD 938), the ammunition ship USS NITRO (AE 23), and the fleet oiler USNS WACCAMAW (T-AO 109). The ships crossed the Atlantic as the opening phase of an approximately six-month Sixth Fleet deployment.

McCLOY made extensive use of her passive towed-array system during Mediterranean submarine-surveillance operations. The ability to maintain long-range passive contact made the ship especially useful when Soviet submarines entered or operated within the Mediterranean. After completing the deployment and returning to the western Atlantic, McCLOY was also employed on additional special antisubmarine operations in waters off the U.S. East Coast and in the Bermuda area.

McCLOY returned to the Mediterranean in 1982. By July, she was operating in the eastern Mediterranean and using TASS to track Soviet submarines. A contemporary photographic record from that summer documents an unusual underway replenishment with the ammunition ship USS MOUNT BAKER (AE 34). Because McCLOY was streaming her towed array and maintaining submarine contact, MOUNT BAKER maneuvered into position alongside her instead of requiring McCLOY to carry out the larger course changes normally made by the receiving ship. A CH-46 Sea Knight from MOUNT BAKER also conducted vertical-replenishment activity during the evolution.

The deployment coincided with the Lebanon War. Israel invaded Lebanon on June 6, 1982, and Israeli forces subsequently surrounded western Beirut, where Palestine Liberation Organization forces were concentrated. International negotiations eventually produced arrangements for the departure of PLO personnel from Beirut under the supervision of a multinational presence. During September 1982, McCLOY was stationed near the entrance to Beirut harbor. In addition to her antisubmarine duties, she supported the evacuation process and escorted vessels carrying PLO personnel away from Beirut toward destinations elsewhere in the Mediterranean. Records of the deployment credit McCLOY with escorting nine vessels associated with the evacuation. Her service during this period therefore combined her normal Sixth Fleet antisubmarine role with contingency and escort duties directly connected with the Lebanon crisis.

McCLOY returned to special antisubmarine work after the Mediterranean deployment. By 1983, she had developed a particularly strong operational association with TASS and long-range tracking of Soviet nuclear submarines. On October 31, 1983, McCLOY was conducting submarine surveillance in the western Atlantic when her towed-array cable became entangled with the propeller system of the Soviet VICTOR III-class nuclear-powered attack submarine K-324. McCLOY was operating west of Bermuda and had been tracking the submarine passively. During maneuvers intended to maintain or improve contact, the towed-array system suddenly suffered a severe load, and the array was lost. McCLOY returned toward Norfolk without the lost portion of the array. On the following day, a U.S. Navy P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft located K-324 stopped on the surface approximately 282 miles west of Bermuda and about 470 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina. The submarine had suffered propulsion difficulties because part of McCLOY's towed-array equipment had become wrapped around its propeller.

The encounter created an unusual Cold War intelligence situation. American aircraft obtained an opportunity to observe the relatively new VICTOR III-class submarine at close range while the Soviet Navy acquired part of an American passive towed-array system. On November 5, a Soviet salvage vessel began towing K-324 toward Cienfuegos, Cuba, where repairs could be undertaken.

McCLOY continued antisubmarine operations into 1984. In March, she participated in SHAREM 55, a cold-weather Ship Antisubmarine Warfare Readiness and Effectiveness Measuring exercise conducted north of Iceland between the Greenland ice pack and Jan Mayen. Other participating U.S. Navy ships included USS SPRUANCE (DD 963), USS BOWEN (FF 1079), USS THOMAS C. HART (FF 1092), and USS MILWAUKEE (AOR 2). McCLOY also operated with the Coast Guard icebreaker USCGC NORTHWIND (W 282) in the marginal ice zone.

The purpose of SHAREM 55 was to examine methods for locating submarines operating beneath or near the ice and to determine how surface ships could position themselves to detect and intercept submarines emerging from under the ice pack. McCLOY streamed her TASS during the operation. During the return through the Denmark Strait, the force encountered severe weather. McCLOY's commanding officer later recalled that the frigate experienced a roll measured at approximately 62 degrees without suffering personnel injuries. The exercise was among the last major operations of her AN/SQR-15 system; TASS was removed from McCLOY later in 1984.

McCLOY continued Atlantic Fleet operations during 1984 and 1985. In 1985, the Navy awarded Braswell Shipyards a $7.6 million firm-fixed-price contract for a regular overhaul of the frigate at Hoboken, New Jersey. Contemporary contract reporting identified January 31, 1986, as the anticipated completion date. The overhaul provided a substantial maintenance period for a ship then more than twenty years old. Following the overhaul, McCLOY increasingly participated in U.S. Navy support of Coast Guard counter-narcotics operations. Navy surface ships supplied endurance, sensors, communications, and seagoing capability, while embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments carried out the law-enforcement functions and boardings.

On November 14, 1986, McCLOY, with a Coast Guard law-enforcement detachment embarked, intercepted the approximately 45-foot fishing vessel ROSE MARIE 10 about 50 miles north of Colombia's Guajira Peninsula. Seven people were aboard. The master refused a request for a consensual boarding, and members of the vessel's crew were observed throwing three bales overboard. The vessel initially displayed a Honduran flag and later a Colombian flag, raising questions concerning its nationality. After authorization was received to treat ROSE MARIE 10 as a stateless vessel, it continued to refuse orders to stop. Warning fire and subsequently disabling fire from .50-caliber weapons were authorized. One member of the fishing vessel's crew was seriously wounded during the action. Coast Guard personnel boarded ROSE MARIE 10 and recovered several bales of marijuana as evidence. The total cargo was estimated at approximately ten tons. ROSE MARIE 10 sank shortly after the boarding and was believed to have been deliberately scuttled. Its crew and the recovered evidence were transferred to the Coast Guard cutter USCGC SAGEBRUSH (WLB 399) for transportation to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

On November 20, McCLOY encountered the merchant vessel SEE WONDERER in international waters. The vessel was initially flying no flag. Its master claimed Honduran registry and stated that the ship was carrying electronic equipment to Aruba. A Honduran flag was raised, but authorities in Honduras advised the Americans that the vessel was not registered there. When permission to board continued to be refused, SEE WONDERER was ordered to stop. McCLOY used her fire hoses against the vessel, after which it stopped its engines. Coast Guard personnel boarded and discovered a large quantity of marijuana in the hold. Nine men aboard were arrested and transferred to McCLOY. Subsequent court records identified the seized cargo as approximately 98,325 pounds gross weight of marijuana. The seizures of ROSE MARIE 10 and SEE WONDERER were part of a period of increased Navy-Coast Guard cooperation in Caribbean drug-interdiction operations.

McCLOY continued counter-narcotics operations during 1987. On April 1, at approximately 8:00 p.m., she detected a vessel six to eight miles off the western coast of Jamaica inside Jamaican territorial waters. The vessel was proceeding north toward Cuba, and McCLOY followed it from a distance for approximately five and a half hours. During the early hours of April 2, the vessel entered international waters. McCLOY closed and identified it as the approximately 50- to 55-foot fishing trawler ORION I. Coast Guard personnel aboard McCLOY attempted repeatedly to establish communications in English, Spanish, and French using radio, loudhailer, signal flags, and flashing light, but initially received no response. A person aboard ORION I eventually raised a Bahamian courtesy flag.

Bahamian authorities subsequently advised that ORION I was not registered in the Bahamas and authorized U.S. enforcement action. When ordered to stop, the vessel failed to comply. During the close maneuvering that followed, ORION I struck McCLOY's port quarter. ORION I then made a sharp turn toward McCLOY's port bow. McCLOY reversed her engines in an attempt to avoid another collision, but her bow made contact with ORION I's starboard quarter. Coast Guard personnel warned ORION I that gunfire would be used if it continued to refuse orders to stop. McCLOY then fired three short bursts of .50-caliber machine-gun fire across the vessel's bow, with several minutes between the bursts and repeated warnings. After more than 25 rounds had been fired, ORION I stopped at approximately 5:30 a.m. in international waters about 50 nautical miles from Jamaica and 20 nautical miles from Cuba. A Coast Guard boarding team entered ORION I. During a protective sweep of the vessel, personnel opened the main hold and found 289 bales of marijuana. The vessel was seized and its crew detained. McCLOY transported the detainees to Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while a combined Navy-Coast Guard crew operated ORION I to the same location. The detainees were subsequently flown to Florida and transferred to federal authorities.

On September 24, 1987, another Coast Guard law-enforcement detachment operating from McCLOY seized the vessel LAURA ROSA. Federal Coast Guard drug-enforcement records list approximately 20,000 pounds of marijuana seized and nine arrests during the operation and record the use of force by the McCLOY law-enforcement team. Counter-narcotics patrols had thus become a significant secondary role for the frigate during the later years of her career.

McCLOY became involved in a major submarine emergency in April 1988. On April 24, the diesel-electric attack submarine USS BONEFISH (SS 582) suffered a serious fire while submerged during training operations approximately 160 miles east of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The submarine surfaced, and its crew was ordered to abandon ship. Three crewmen died as a result of the casualty.

The guided-missile frigate USS CARR (FFG 52) was among the first ships to reach BONEFISH and began immediate rescue operations. Helicopters and small boats were used to recover men from the water. McCLOY also joined the response. Contemporary reporting on the night of the casualty stated that 89 of BONEFISH's 92 men had been accounted for aboard the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV 67), CARR, and McCLOY, with 71 of the survivors reported aboard the two frigates. Injured personnel were transferred to JOHN F. KENNEDY for medical treatment and subsequent evacuation.

McCLOY remained involved as the immediate rescue response developed into stabilization and salvage work. By April 27, she was operating close to the disabled submarine with the submarine rescue ship USS PETREL (ASR 14) and the salvage ship USS HOIST (ARS 40). Official Navy photographs show McCLOY approaching and pulling alongside BONEFISH during the operation. The Navy ultimately determined that repairing the fire-damaged submarine for further active service was not economical, and BONEFISH never returned to operational duty.

McCLOY remained an active Atlantic Fleet unit in 1989. On April 28, she was underway as part of the USS FORRESTAL (CV 59) battle group approaching New York for Fleet Week. Other ships associated with the formation included USS FAIRFAX COUNTY (LST 1193), USS KLAKRING (FFG 42), USS TICONDEROGA (CG 47), USS HAYLER (DD 997), and USS MacDONOUGH (DDG 39). On April 29, McCLOY participated in the Fleet Week parade of ships through New York Harbor. Her crew manned the rails as the frigate steamed past the city, and commercial harbor tugs subsequently maneuvered her into a Brooklyn berth.

By 1990, McCLOY was approaching the end of more than a quarter-century of commissioned service. The strategic environment had also changed substantially since her design. The Warsaw Pact governments in Eastern Europe had undergone political transformation during 1989, the Berlin Wall had opened in November of that year, and the Cold War confrontation that had driven the development of specialized escorts such as the BRONSTEIN-class was rapidly diminishing. At the same time, the U.S. Navy possessed much newer classes of surface combatants for carrier screening, antisubmarine warfare, and general escort duties.

McCLOY was decommissioned at Naval Station Norfolk on December 14, 1990, with Lieutenant Commander Paul Kenneth Susalla as her final commanding officer. Admiral Paul David Miller, Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, delivered the principal remarks at the decommissioning ceremony. Miller had previously commanded McCLOY from April 4, 1972, through August 31, 1973. Her decommissioning ended slightly more than twenty-seven years of commissioned U.S. Navy service. Her sister BRONSTEIN had been decommissioned the previous day.

McCLOY was removed from the Naval Vessel Register during 1991 and was subsequently selected for transfer to Mexico. The former American frigate passed to the Mexican Navy in November 1993 and entered Mexican service as ARM NICOLAS BRAVO, initially carrying the identification E 40 and later F 201. BRONSTEIN was transferred to Mexico during the same period and became ARM HERMENEGILDO GALEANA. ARM BRAVO remained in Mexican naval service until April 2017. Her retirement came almost fifty-five years after McCLOY had been launched at Westwego and more than fifty-three years after her original U.S. Navy commissioning.

During her U.S. Navy service, McCLOY accumulated a documented award record that included the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, multiple Navy Meritorious Unit Commendations, the Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation, two Navy Battle "E" awards, the Navy Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, and Coast Guard Special Operations Service recognition.

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