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General Characteristics Crew List Memorabilia Cruise Books About the Ship's Name About the Ship's Coat of Arms Accidents aboard the Ship History Homeports of USS John L. Hall Patch Gallery Image Gallery to end of page |  |  |
USS JOHN L. HALL was one of the OLIVER HAZARD PERRY class guided missile frigates and the first ship in the Navy named after Admiral John L. Hall, Jr. On March 9, 2012, the JOHN L. HALL was decommissioned at her homeport Mayport, Fla. Subsequently laid up at Philadelphia, Penn., the ship was later sold for scrapping to International Shipbreaking Ltd. in Brownsville, Tx. JOHN L. HALL arrived at Brownsville under tow on December 19, 2022, and has since been scrapped.
| General Characteristics: | Awarded: January 23, 1978 |
| Keel laid: January 5, 1981 | |
| Launched: July 24, 1981 | |
| Commissioned: June 26, 1982 | |
| Decommissioned: March 9, 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: | |
| 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 JOHN L. HALL. 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 JOHN L. HALL Cruise Books:
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About the Ship's Name:
General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave him the nickname "Viking of Assault". General George Patton, tough critic of fellow military leaders, heaped high praise on him. He was one of the toughest and best athletes of the U.S. Naval Academy.
These descriptions of Admiral John L. Hall, Jr., for whom the ship is named, were befitting of his huge frame, his daring military exploits and his prowess as an athlete.
However, to Dr. Susan Hall Godson, his niece and biographer, he was a "gentle giant," with more than a fair share of humility.
Admiral Hall was a brilliant attack force commander of World War II and former Commander Amphibious Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. He was the Chief of Staff of the Western Naval Task Force during the North African landings in 1942 and received the Distinguished Service Medal for opening ports and preventing sabotage while Commander Northwest African Sea Frontier.
In February 1943, he became Commander Amphibious Force, North African Waters (Eighth Fleet), expertly cross-training Army artilleryman and Navy gunners so that his ship call-fire missions could be conducted in direct support of troop advance rather than at "targets of opportunity." His concept proved devastating to enemy forces and tank divisions as he led one of the major assault forces engaged in the Sicilian Occupation (9-12 July 1943) and the bitterly contested landings at Salerno (9-21 September 1943).
These bold achievements brought him two awards of the Legion of Merit. In November 1943, he took command of the ELEVENTH Amphibious Force in England, earning the Army's Distinguished Service Medal for his superb leadership of this amphibious Force "O" which landed and so effectively supported the Army V Corps on the "Omaha" beach sector off the coast of Normandy in June 1944. he received a second Navy Distinguished Service Medal for command of the Southern Attack Force (TF 55) during the invasion throughout the Okinawa campaign. In October 1945, he became Commander Amphibious Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
He later was Commandant of the Fourteenth Naval District and Commander of the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Virginia. From August 1951 until his retirement in May 1953, he was Commander Western Sea Frontier with additional duty as Commander Pacific Reserve Fleet.
Admiral Hall was a native of Williamsburg, Virginia, and attended the college of William and Mary for three years before transferring to the U.S. naval Academy where he graduated in 1913. He starred in football for three seasons at William and Mary and for years at the Naval Academy. As a matter of fact, he excelled in three sports at the Academy and was awarded the coveted "Academy Sword" for athletic excellence. Admiral Hall passed away in 1978 at the age of 87.
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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:
The Shield:
The colors of the chevron in the center of the lower portion of the shield are blue and gold. The three blue chevrons symbolize the three assault landing invasions in which Admiral Hall's outstanding leadership abilities contributed toward a successful conclusion. The top blue chevron is pointing in the direction of the embattled area which is red. This represents the penetration of fortified land areas from the sea. The stars denote the Admiral's rank.
The Crest:
The colors blue and gold are traditional to the U.S. Navy and further allude to two awards of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Admiral Hall; red and white refer to two awards of the Legion of Merit. The rampart heraldic goat refers to the Naval Academy where Admiral Hall's career began. The Naval cannon, along with a lightning bolt symbolizing electronic communications, allude to Admiral Hall's concept of cross-training Navy gunners and Army artilleryman so that his ship call-fire missions could be conducted in direct support of troop advance on the land. The heraldic mount in base represents the land areas upon which Admiral Hall's assault landing concepts proved so successful in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Pacific battle areas.
back to top go to the end of the pageAccidents aboard USS JOHN L. HALL:
| Date | Where | Events |
|---|---|---|
| April 16, 2010 | Batumi, Georgia | USS JOHN L. HALL collides with a pier at the port of Batumi, Georgia, in the Black Sea. The impact causes approx. $160,000 of damage to the ship. On June 22, JOHN L. HALL's Commanding Officer - CDR Herman Pfaeffle - was relieved following an investigation into the collision. |
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USS JOHN L. HALL History:
USS JOHN L. HALL was ordered from Bath Iron Works on January 23, 1978. Her keel was laid on January 5, 1981, she was launched on July 24, 1981 with Dr. Susan Hall Godson as sponsor, and she was commissioned at Bath, Maine, on June 26, 1982. Builder's trials off Maine preceded acceptance and shake-down, with photographs recording sea trials on March 23, 1982. These milestones set the 26th OLIVER HAZARD PERRY-class frigate on an Atlantic Fleet career that would include Cold War anti-submarine operations, Persian Gulf sanctions enforcement, South American exercises, NATO duty in Northern European waters, counter-narcotics patrols in the Caribbean, Black Sea theater-security cooperation, and humanitarian contingencies.
After post-commissioning trials and training, JOHN L. HALL deployed in 1984 to the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean. A contemporary cruise book documents that seven-month cruise (April-November 1984), including a Shellback ceremony on April 15, 1984, as the ship crossed the equator en route to operations in the broader Indian Ocean region - typical for PERRY-class escorts assigned to presence and sea-lane security tasks alongside Sixth and Seventh Fleet units and logistics ships.
Through the mid-1980s, the frigate's routine alternated among East Coast training, Atlantic and Caribbean exercises, and periodic deployments. In early 1986, she operated in the Americas alongside capital units. Contemporary Proceedings reporting on "U.S. Naval Operations in 1986" notes JOHN L. HALL's association with the battleship IOWA (BB 61) during Central American movements that winter, reflecting the frigate's role as an anti-submarine and general escort platform for larger combatants.
On June 20, 1989, JOHN L. HALL crossed the Atlantic with SPRUANCE (DD 963) for "Operation ROJO", a 41-day anti-submarine warfare operation in the North and East Atlantic under Destroyer Squadron 32. During ROJO the ships maintained extended contact on two Soviet submarines, highlighting the class's long-range SQR-19 towed array capability and embarked SH-60B LAMPS III helicopter team.
The frigate deployed again to the Mediterranean on March 8, 1990. Among her notable evolutions were ASW events "Operation Fox Chase" and "Operation World Cup", tracking a Soviet VICTOR I-class submarine for prolonged periods. On August 7, 1990, as the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait triggered coalition mobilization, JOHN L. HALL - then operating with the EISENHOWER (CVN 69) Battle Group - sortied from Haifa to Port Said and transited the Suez Canal with TICONDEROGA (CG 47), SCOTT (DDG 995), USNS NEOSHO (T-AO 143), SURIBACHI (AE 21), and DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER to support what became OPERATION DESERT SHIELD. Assigned "gate-guard" air-defense and maritime-interception duties in the Red Sea and approaches to the Bab-el-Mandeb, she also escorted NEOSHO to Djibouti for bunkering and back into the refueling pattern, ultimately logging more than 200 hours of submarine contact time and over 800 SH-60B flight hours on the deployment.
In the early 1990s, the ship continued Mediterranean and Red Sea operations and episodic port visits tied to sanctions and presence missions. Command history material from 1994 records a port call at Massawa, Eritrea, during which crew members volunteered significant hours ashore - one snapshot of the ship's participation in Red Sea activity as the region experienced post-Cold War realignments and humanitarian crises.
By the mid-1990s, JOHN L. HALL was homeported at Pascagoula, Mississippi, within Western Hemisphere Group. A 1995 command report identifies the ship's Pascagoula homeport and change of command on March 17, 1995 (CDR Joseph Zacharzuk relieving CDR David J. Fontaine), with readiness workups on the Gulf ranges. On July 2, 1996, the frigate deployed for UNITAS 37-96, a five-month multinational series around South America involving at-sea exercises and numerous port calls with regional navies. JOHN L. HALL's embarked HSL-42 detachment operated prototype night-vision-goggle-equipped SH-60Bs during this cruise, pioneering tactics that quickly spread across East Coast Seahawk detachments.
In 1998, the ship executed counter-drug operations with an embarked Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET), documented in the 1998 cruise book. These patrols typically blended radar/airborne cueing, surface intercepts, and embarked LEDET boardings across Caribbean and Eastern Pacific vectoring lanes, contributing to multi-agency interdiction efforts then expanding under Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) constructs.
Assigned to Standing Naval Force Atlantic around the turn of the decade, JOHN L. HALL spent extended periods in Northern European waters. A detailed 2001 Command History traces her March 22, 2001 departure and North Atlantic transit; port visits to Lisbon, Portugal (April 12-18); Plymouth, England (April 27-30); Aarhus, Denmark (May 11-14); Wilhelmshaven, Germany (May 18-28); Stavanger, Norway (June 1-4); Oslo, Norway (June 15-18); and Kiel, Germany (June 22-July 2). She participated in exercises SWORD FISH (Portugal), BLUE GAME (UK-led anti-submarine/ASW serials), MARVIKA (Norway), and COOPERATIVE OCEAN, conducting DIVTACS and leapfrogs with allied units. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the frigate operated briefly under OPERATION NOBLE EAGLE tasking before ammunition offload at Yorktown and a selected restricted availability at Bender Shipyard, Mobile, from October 15 to December 13, 2001.
On August 28, 2005, with Hurricane Katrina threatening the Mississippi Gulf Coast, JOHN L. HALL and sister ship STEPHEN W. GROVES (FFG 29) sortied from Pascagoula to sea for storm avoidance and to posture for post-storm relief support. In the aftermath, the frigate operated from Florida as Gulf Coast installations recovered. By 2007, she is recorded as assigned to DESRON 14 and homeported at Naval Station Mayport.
A high-tempo Mediterranean and Black Sea deployment followed in 2008. Entries compiled by fleet trackers and open sources record the ship's integration into multi-national training off Scotland in early March. Port visits to Valletta, Malta (March 14, 2008) and Bar, Montenegro (March 20); Black Sea operations with Ukrainian Navy units in early May; a port call at Batumi, Georgia (May 16); and Rota, Spain (May 30). The year closed with North Atlantic and Northern Europe evolutions in support of JOINT WARRIOR 09-2 workups (sailing September 22, 2009), with port visits including Klaipeda, Lithuania (late October), Portsmouth, England (mid-November, weather diversion), and Copenhagen, Denmark, before return to Mayport on November 19, 2009.
On January 21, 2010, JOHN L. HALL again deployed to the Mediterranean and Black Sea for combined exercises and theater-security cooperation. Port calls included Constanta, Romania (arrived February 15, five days); Samsun, Turkey (departed February 24); and Poti, Georgia (arrived February 25) for joint training with the Georgian Coast Guard. She continued to Koper, Slovenia (arrived March 15) and Vlore, Albania, where a change of command was conducted at sea on March 22. Short visits at Bodrum, Turkey (April 5) and Odessa, Ukraine (April 8) bracketed entries to Poti and Batumi for joint TSC events. She then visited Sevastopol, Ukraine (April 20-23). After onward movement via Rota (June 11) and West African engagements - including a search-and-rescue exercise with Gambian and Senegalese forces on July 2 and a goodwill visit to Nouakchott, Mauritania, on July 5 - she participated in NATO's SEA BREEZE activities at Varna, Bulgaria (from July 19) and returned to Mayport on August 17, 2010, completing a seven-month deployment that covered roughly 34,000 nautical miles and 19 ports in 14 countries.
During this deployment an allision occurred with a pier at Batumi, Georgia, on April 16, 2010, causing repairable hull damage. On June 22, 2010, the Sixth Fleet commander relieved the commanding officer for loss of confidence following investigation. Photographs from the period also show the ship alongside in Sevastopol on April 21, 2010.
In early 2011, the ship served as simulated opposition forces for the GEORGE H. W. BUSH (CVN 77) Carrier Strike Group's COMPTUEX, reflecting the class's continued utility as a multi-warfare sparring partner in pre-deployment certification events.
JOHN L. HALL was decommissioned at Mayport on March 9, 2012, after nearly three decades of service. She then shifted to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Philadelphia. A decade later, the frigate departed under tow on December 6, 2022, for Brownsville, Texas, arriving December 19 for dismantlement by International Shipbreaking Ltd.
back to top go to the end of the pageHomeports of USS JOHN L. HALL:
| Period | Homeport |
|---|---|
| commissioned at Bath, Maine | |
| 1982 - 1994 | Mayport, Fla. |
| 1994 - 2006 | Pascagoula, Miss. |
| 2006 - 2012 | Mayport, Fla. |
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USS JOHN L. HALL Patch Gallery:
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Background information to the first patch (HSL-42 Det. 6 - UNITAS '96):
The Shadowmen of HSL-42 Det. 6, embarked aboard USS JOHN L. HALL for the UNITAS cruise in 1996, were the East coast's first prototype Night Vision Goggle (NVG) capable SH-60B detachment. Because of the high success of this deployment, the use of NVGs on SH-60B aircraft spread rapidly and today all deploying SH-60B aircraft use NVGs.
back to top go to the end of the pageUSS JOHN L. HALL Image Gallery:
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The photos below were taken by Sean Hainer (FFG 32 Disbursing Officer May 89 - April 92). The photos were taken at Jacksonville Landing near the ship's old home port of Mayport, FL, and during the Mediteranean cruise in 1990.
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The photos below were taken by me and show the JOHN L. HALL during a port visit of the STANAVFORLANT (Standing Naval Force Atlantic) to Kiel, Germany, on June 23, 2001.
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The photos below were taken by me and show the JOHN L. HALL laid up at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Penn., on May 4, 2012.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the JOHN L. HALL laid up 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 JOHN L. HALL laid up among her sisterships at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on October 21, 2014.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the JOHN L. HALL being towed at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Penn., on October 16, 2015. The ship was moved from the inner basin to a pier in the Delaware River.
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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the JOHN L. HALL laid up at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on October 17, 2016.
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