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General Characteristics Crew List Memorabilia Cruise Books In the News About the Name "Stephen W. Groves" About the Ship's Coat of Arms History Patch Gallery Image Gallery to end of page
USS STEPHEN W. GROVES was the 21st frigate in the OLIVER HAZARD PERRY class and the first ship in the Navy to bear the name. Since 1997, the ship was part of the NRF training Naval Reservists. Last homeported in Mayport, Fla., the STEPHEN W. GROVES was decommissioned on February 24, 2012. She spent the following years laid up at Philadelphia, Penn. On November 19, 2020, STEPHEN W. GROVES arrived under tow at International Shipbreaking at Brownsville, Tx., for scrapping.
| General Characteristics: | Keel Laid: September 16, 1980 |
| Launched: April 4, 1981 | |
| Commissioned: April 17, 1982 | |
| Decommissioned: February 24, 2012 | |
| Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine | |
| Propulsion system: two General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines, two 350 Horsepower Electric Drive Auxiliary Propulsion Units | |
| Propellers: one | |
| Blades on each Propeller: five | |
| Length: 453 feet (138 meters) | |
| Beam: 47 feet (14.32 meters) | |
| Draft: 24,6 feet (7.5 meters) | |
| Displacement: 4,100 tons | |
| Speed: 28+ knots | |
| Aircraft: two | |
| Armament: one | |
| Crew: 17 Officers and 198 Enlisted |
back to top go to the end of the pageback to top go to the end of the pageCrew List:
This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS STEPHEN W. GROVES. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.
back to top go to the end of the pageback to top go to the end of the pageUSS STEPHEN W. GROVES Cruise Books:
back to top go to the end of the pageUSS STEPHEN W. GROVES in the News:
back to top go to the end of the pageAbout the Ship's Name, about Ensign Stephen W. Groves:
"About 4:40 p.m. the enemy was coming in fast, and the carrier sent up its few remaining planes, some of them already battle-scarred. They headed straight for the enemy. The fight ended at sunset, when the last remaining Japanese plane was shot from the sky. Some of our boys did not return, but they left a memory that time can never dim."
Thus read an official account of one of the great air engagements of the Battle of Midway during World War II. Stephen W. Groves, a 25- year-old Navy Ensign from East Millinocket, Maine, was one of the American flyers who did not return after the day-long battle on 4 June 1942.
Other historical accounts of the battle show that Ensign Groves took off nine times from his carrier on that fateful day, and that his was one of six American planes that fought off a vastly superior Japanese force that was trying to finish off the damaged carrier USS YORKTOWN. The small group was credited with shooting down 14 enemy planes and causing six others to retreat.
For his deeds in the crucial battle, the young Maine flyer was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism.
The commissioning of the guided missile frigate USS STEPHEN W. GROVES demonstrates that time did not dim the memory of this American hero and, in effect, fulfills a promise the Navy made to the Groves family shortly after the ensign was declared missing-in-action. A destroyer, being constructed in Boston, was to have been named for Groves, but it was scrapped when the war ended.
Ensign Groves was a 1934 graduate of Schenck High School in East Millinocket, and received a Mechanical Engineering Degree from the University of Maine in 1939. He joined the Navy in December of 1940, and was commissioned in August of 1941. He boarded the carrier HORNET in December of that year. The HORNET began to transport Doolittle's Bombers to Japanese waters in April of 1942, setting the stage for the Battle of Midway, considered one of the most crucial Allied victories of the war.
Ensign Groves was the first East Millinocket serviceman to be killed in World War II. Today the American Legion Post in the town is named the Feeney-Groves Post, partially in his memory.
back to top go to the end of the pageAbout the Ship's Coat of Arms:
The Shield:
Blue and gold are the colors traditionally associated with the Navy. The wings allude to Ensign Groves as a naval aviator and, when combined with the white and blue roundel, suggest the battle for the Pacific during World War II in which the aircraft carrier was to prove itself as an effective tactical weapon. The eight gold stars simulate aircraft in formation and the number eight is symbolic of Fighter Squadron EIGHT with which Groves flew nine missions during the Battle of Midway before being shot down; eight stars further allude to the fact that Ensign Groves was serving aboard USS HORNET (CV 8) at the time of his death.
The Crest:
The four red pheons (spear points) allude to the overwhelming number of enemy fighter planes Ensign Groves faced while defending the US task force against enemy attack. The gold cross refers to the Navy Cross awarded to him for heroic action during the first and last battle of his short Navy career.
back to top go to the end of the pageUSS STEPHEN W. GROVES History:
USS STEPHEN W. GROVES was ordered on January 23, 1978, laid down at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, on September 16, 1980, launched on April 4, 1981, delivered on March 5, 1982, and commissioned at Portland, Maine, on April 17, 1982. In July 1982, only a few months after entering service, she rescued survivors from a disabled sailboat about 120 miles at sea. During the following years, she entered the normal Atlantic Fleet cycle of training, Caribbean operations, and overseas deployments.
In 1984 she was operating in the Caribbean and near the approaches to the Panama Canal during the UNITAS season, and on August 5, 1984, she was photographed in company with USS IOWA (BB 61). On September 1, 1985, she was participating in NATO's Ocean Safari 85, operating with ships that included USS IOWA and the West German frigate FGS BREMEN. By early 1987 she had shifted into Middle East Force duty: from February 5, 1987, to May 5, 1987, she deployed with USS STARK (FFG 31), and after the Iraqi Exocet attack on USS STARK on May 17, 1987, STARK's embarked HSL-32 detachment later completed its deployment from USS STEPHEN W. GROVES. In 1990 she was operating off South America during UNITAS XXXI, with documented activity around Talcahuano, Chile, as well as other South American ports and replenishment work involving the Brazilian oiler MARAJO.
By 1992 she was listed as having served with Standing Naval Forces Mediterranean, and by late 1993 she was directly involved in operations connected with the Haiti crisis: on December 23, 1993, one of her boarding teams went alongside the Belize-flagged merchant vessel MV FREDA ONE off Haiti to inspect cargo prohibited under the United Nations embargo. During 1994, she was associated with Middle East Force service, and in 1996 she again deployed for the Mediterranean and Arabian Gulf. On September 27, 1997, USS STEPHEN W. GROVES relieved USS DOYLE (FFG 39) in Bahrain, and on January 17, 1998, she was in turn relieved there by USS HALYBURTON (FFG 40), confirming a late-1997 to early-1998 Gulf deployment. She then entered a NATO-focused period, with LAMPS helicopter detachments embarked from October 31, 1998, to January 15, 1999, and again from June 15, 1999, to December 17, 1999, during the period when she served with the Standing Naval Force Atlantic deployment cycle, later turning over to USS DE WERT (FFG 45) at Rota in early 2000.
A sustained post-September 11 deployment phase followed, reflected in a Meritorious Unit Commendation period from October 1, 2001, through April 30, 2002, which overlapped with the embarkation of HSL-42 Detachment 10 from October 10, 2001, to April 10, 2002. By 2003 she was operating from Pascagoula and had become heavily engaged in counter-drug patrols in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. After a summer 2003 visit to Bucksport, Maine, she departed Pascagoula on September 25, 2003, under Commander Rudy Laco for a scheduled six-month deployment. On November 15, 2003, she completed a major narcotics seizure after a 12-hour, 305-mile pursuit of a go-fast vessel carrying about 1.5 tons of cocaine and six suspects. She visited Panama City on December 2, 2003, and on December 12, 2003, made another high-speed interdiction in the eastern Pacific that again disrupted about 1.5 tons of cocaine. On March 21, 2004, USS STEPHEN W. GROVES and her embarked SH-60B from HSL-42 rescued more than 100 Ecuadorian migrants from an unseaworthy vessel in the eastern Pacific, and on March 22, 2004, she returned to Pascagoula after a deployment that included 15 port visits, drug interdictions, and community-relations projects in Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Panama, and Manta, Ecuador. She later appeared at Fleet Week Fort Lauderdale on April 28, 2004.
In 2005 she operated in the Gulf of Mexico during severe-weather avoidance movements connected with Tropical Storm Arlene, and on August 26, 2005, she and USS JOHN L. HALL (FFG 32) sortied from Pascagoula to avoid Hurricane Katrina before returning on September 2, 2005. In 2006 she entered another extended counter-narcotics deployment. On June 15, 2006, she took part in a theater-security-cooperation event in Cartagena, and on July 14, 2006, she departed Mayport for the second half of that deployment after a maintenance period. During operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific she visited Aruba and Callao, Peru. With HSL-46 Detachment 8 and Coast Guard LEDET 105 embarked, she carried out multiple interdictions, including an August 5, 2006 seizure of more than 7,000 pounds of cocaine. By the time she returned to Mayport on October 4, 2006, the deployment total had risen to 10.8 metric tons. On August 26, 2006, members of her crew also completed renovation work at the Perez Aranibal Orphanage during a community-relations project in Peru. In November 2006 she visited Sint Eustatius for the commemoration of the 230th anniversary of the island's salute to ANDREW DORIA.
In 2007 she visited New York for Fleet Week in May and Bristol, Rhode Island, for New England Navy Week in July. From late 2007 until May 2, 2008, she completed another six-month counter-illicit-trafficking deployment in the eastern Pacific, during which she detained 17 traffickers, disrupted about five metric tons of cocaine, and made port calls that included Roatan, Panama City, St. Thomas, and Cartagena. In June 2008 she visited Boston and later participated in training associated with the IWO JIMA (LHD 7) Expeditionary Strike Group.
On August 10, 2009, STEPHEN W. GROVES arrived at Lisbon to join Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 for a five-month surge deployment that took her to Cadiz, Marseille, Toulon, Muscat, and the Gulf of Aden, where she served in Operation Ocean Shield before returning via Rota and arriving back at Mayport on December 27, 2009. In 2010 she continued in NATO-linked operations and exercises. On May 30, 2010, she made a brief call at Portsmouth, UK. On June 2, 2010, she and USS SIMPSON (FFG 56) transited the Kiel Canal and then proceeded directly to Gdynia, Poland, for BALTOPS 2010. After the exercise ended, both ships visited Kiel on June 18, 2010. On October 4, 2010, Commander Matthew S. Rick relieved Commander Edward S. Gettins as commanding officer.
USS STEPHEN W. GROVES departed Mayport on January 14, 2011, for what became her final deployment. She first moved around Africa, calling at Cape Town and Simon's Town on February 7 and 8, 2011, Dar es Salaam on February 22, 2011, Victoria in the Seychelles in early March, Port Louis on March 21, 2011, and Mombasa by April 18, 2011, during Africa Partnership Station East, where she hosted East African naval officers and took part in regional maritime training. She then shifted into NATO counter-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean, where Operation Ocean Shield summaries listed her alongside ships that included HNLMS TROMP, USS BAINBRIDGE (DDG 96), HDMS ESBERN SNARE, and TCG GIRESUN. On May 10, 2011, during an effort to free the hijacked Taiwanese fishing vessel JIH CHUN TSAI 68, weapons fire from USS STEPHEN W. GROVES accidentally killed the vessel's master, Wu Lai-yu. Three pirates were later found dead, two Chinese hostages were rescued, and on May 11, 2011, Wu was buried at sea from his vessel before the fishing boat was sunk as a hazard to navigation. Soon afterward, the frigate put into Souda Bay and then joined Phoenix Express 11 from May 23, 2011, to June 15, 2011, operating with ships that included USS ROBERT G. BRADLEY (FFG 49), USNS LCPL ROY M. WHEAT (T-AK 3016), and USNS BIG HORN (T-AO 198) in a Mediterranean maritime-security exercise. She returned to Mayport on July 16, 2011, after nearly six months away, made a final public visit to Boston in October 2011, and was decommissioned at Naval Station Mayport on February 24, 2012. After several years in inactive status at Philadelphia, she was towed to Brownsville, Texas, in 2020 for dismantling.
back to top go to the end of the pageUSS STEPHEN W. GROVES Patch Gallery:
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back to top go to the end of the pageUSS STEPHEN W. GROVES Image Gallery:
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The photos below were taken by me and show the STEPHEN W. GROVES at Toulon, France, on September 20, 2009. The ship alongside is the Spanish NAVARRA (F 85). The next day, the STEPHEN W. GROVES departed Toulon to participate in exercise "Loyal Midas 09" in the western Mediterranean. The exercise was conducted from September 21 - October 3, 2009, and involved 33 ships from 8 countries.
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The photos below were taken by me and show the STEPHEN W. GROVES at Kiel, Germany, on June 2, 2010. The STEPHEN W. GROVES was underway from Portsmouth, UK, to Gdynia, Poland, for exercise BALTOPS 2010. The photos below show the ship passing the locks at Kiel-Holtenau after transiting the Kiel Canal.
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The photos below were taken by me and show the STEPHEN W. GROVES arriving at Kiel, Germany, on June 18, 2010, after participating in exercise BALTOPS 2010.
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The photos below were taken by me and show the STEPHEN W. GROVES moored alongside USS SIMPSON (FFG 56) at Naval Base Kiel, Germany, on June 19, 2010.
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The photo below was taken by me and shows the STEPHEN W. GROVES laid up alongside her sisterships BOONE (FFG 28) and JOHN L. HALL (FFG 32) at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Penn., on May 4, 2012.
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The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the STEPHEN W. GROVES laid up between her sisterships at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Penn., on October 3, 2012.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the STEPHEN W. GROVES at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Penn., on October 16, 2015.
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The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the STEPHEN W. GROVES laid up at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Penn., on October 17, 2016.
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