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About the Name "Klakring"

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USS Klakring (FFG 42)

USS KLAKRING was the 33^rd OLIVER HAZARD PERRY - class guided missile frigate and the first ship in the Navy named after Rear Admiral Thomas B. Klakring. Her last homeport was Mayport, Fla.

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Crew List:

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

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• Click here to see which USS KLAKRING memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

The Shield:

The shield is divided with a wavy band to suggest the ocean surface. The blue base alludes to the ocean beneath the Surface. The trident alludes to Admiral Klakring's long involvement with the submarine service. The trident and the colors blue and gold also allude to the Naval Academy, Admiral Klakring's alma mater. The red smbolizes the enemy and is split vertically to suggest a break in the enemy's defense as a result of the successful submarine actions conducted by Admiral Klakring as a submarine commander and later as Commander, Submarine Division 102. The two stars indicate Admiral Klakring's rank and superiority over enemy forces.

The Crest:

The dolphin is the symbol of the submarine service. It is grasping a crosslet representing the three Navy Crosses awarded the Admiral for heroism while commanding the submarine USS GUARDFISH. The two stars on the caller refer to the Silver and Bronze stars awarded Admiral Klakring for World War II submarine activities.

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About the Ship's Name, about Rear Admiral Thomas B. Klakring:

Born in Annapolis, Maryland on 19 December 1904, as the only child of Colonel and Mrs. Leslie Klakring, he entered the Naval Academy from the State of Connecticut, and graduated with the Class of 1927.

A submarine hero of the Pacific War in World War II, Admiral Klakring was credited with sinking eight Japanese ships within sight of Japanese ports, after taking his submarine, USS GUARDFISH, into Japanese water previously un-patrolled by American submarines. Without the benefit of sophisticated SONAR, GUARDFISH sighted, or torpedoed, 77 enemy vessels in about 35 days, during one of her war patrols. Then LCDR Klakring commanded GUARDFISH from 1941 to 1943.

While under LCDR Klakring's command, GUARDFISH chalked up an impressive record. She left on her first war patrol on 6 August 1942 for the eastern shore of Honshu, and sent eight enemy ships, totaling 51,055 tons, to the bottom, and damaged a 7,000 ton freighter. In October, during her second war patrol, GUARDFISH sank another freighter and a tanker, and damaged another freighter in the East China Sea. On GUARDFISH's third war patrol, in the Rabaul-Kavieng area, additional Japanese shipping was sunk, including two naval vessels.

For his heroism while commanding GUARDFISH, Klakring was awarded the Navy Cross with two Gold Stars (in lieu of second and third awards). In addition, GUARDFISH was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation while under Klakring's command.

Admiral Klakring's other decorations include the Silver Star, Bronze Star (both for heroism during World War II), China Service Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Area Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

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USS KLAKRING History:

USS KLAKRING, was laid down at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, on February 19, 1982, launched on September 18, 1982, and commissioned at Bath on August 20, 1983, with Cmdr. Leonard O. Wahlig in command. In the weeks after commissioning she completed her Light-Off Examination on September 8, 1983, followed by Initial Crew Certification on September 15, 1983, and then shifted south toward her first homeport, Charleston.

Her early service life followed the pattern typical of a new frigate: post-commissioning trials, corrective work, and the transition from builder's acceptance to an operational Atlantic Fleet schedule. By June 7, 1985, she was ready for her first major overseas deployment, sailing with USS COMTE DE GRASSE (DD 974) as the Middle East Force 3-85 transit group. That cruise carried her through the Atlantic and Mediterranean, southbound through the Suez Canal on June 25-26, 1985, and into the Persian Gulf at a time when the Iran-Iraq War was destabilizing Gulf shipping. During that deployment she made a port call at Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia, beginning on July 14, 1985. Later in the cruise the official 1985 command history also places her departing Bahrain for Karachi on August 21, 1985, and then continuing on to Dubai before the long homeward transit. On December 12, 1985, Cmdr. James M. Coon relieved Cmdr. Wahlig.

In 1986, USS KLAKRING completed Combined At Sea Operations 2-86 from February 3-15, including a Nassau visit from February 8-11. In 1987, she deployed again from Charleston for the Middle East on June 6, 1987, serving in the tense strategic setting that led into and then sustained Operation Earnest Will. By 1989, she was operating in a different but equally sensitive geopolitical environment: after FLEETEX 3-89 and Mediterranean deployment 3-89, she passed through the Turkish Straits with USS SAN JACINTO (CG 56) and visited Constanta, Romania, on June 19-22, 1989, one of the striking late-Cold War port calls made by Atlantic Fleet warships as eastern Europe began to change. In 1990, she visited Port Everglades from January 13-17, then joined other U.S. warships for training tied to Roosevelt Roads and the Puerto Rican operating area before returning to Charleston in March.

The early post-Cold War years shifted USS KLAKRING away from Gulf convoy strategy and toward a mix of alliance exercises, Caribbean contingencies, and embargo enforcement. In 1992, she took part in NATO exercise Dragon Hammer 92 in the western Mediterranean from May 16-20, returning to Charleston on June 1, 1992. Late in 1993, she departed Charleston on November 29, 1993, to support Operation Support Democracy off Haiti, and on April 11, 1994, she again sailed to Haitian waters. That same year, she also participated in Operation Able Vigil during the Cuban raft crisis, and the official command-history record credits her with intercepting 35 small boats, makeshift rafts, and inner tubes in a forty-eight-hour period.

On October 20, 1994, she departed on Joint Task Group 95.1 for Mediterranean service, later operating in the Adriatic with USS NASSAU (LHA 4), USS PONCE (LPD 15), and USS GUNSTON HALL (LSD 44) until January 10, 1995, as coalition naval forces enforced maritime controls linked to the wars of Yugoslav succession. She completed a final Sharp Guard patrol from March 26-31, 1995, and later that year entered a Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability at Colonna's Shipyard in Norfolk from June 23, 1995, to August 18, 1995. These years also marked her transition from Charleston to Norfolk, reflecting both fleet realignment and the frigate's continued utility in sanctions enforcement, amphibious escort, and maritime security work. In 1996, she moved back into a full deployment rhythm, operating during SOCEX with USS AUSTIN (LPD 4), USS SAIPAN (LHA 2), USS GUNSTON HALL (LSD 44), and USS PHILIPPINE SEA (CG 58), and then departing Norfolk on June 28, 1996, for Mediterranean deployment 96-2.

By the end of the decade and into the early 2000s, USS KLAKRING had become one of the Atlantic Fleet frigates repeatedly used for training workups, carrier and amphibious support, and then increasingly for counter-drug operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Naval aviation records place Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 48 Detachment 2 aboard from March 26, 1999, to September 24, 1999, marking a major deployment cycle. In 2000, she sailed with Destroyer Squadron 14 to Puerto Rican waters on January 18, then began her participation in UNITAS 41-00 on August 4, 2000. During that deployment she circumnavigated South America and crossed the equator on August 20, 2000.

A major geographic change followed at the start of 2001. After offloading ordnance at Yorktown on January 8, 2001, she sailed the following day to her new homeport of Mayport. The year was shaped by a major Pierside Restricted Availability from March 5, 2001, to June 15, 2001, followed by sea trials on June 19, 2001. She then resumed a demanding readiness cycle: arriving at Gloucester on June 28, 2001, for St. Peter's Fiesta, training at Newport from July 3-13, 2001, loading deployment ammunition at Yorktown beginning August 20, 2001, escorting USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73), replenishing with USNS BIG HORN (T-AO 198) on August 26, 2001, and later sailing to Puerto Rico in late October with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 44 Detachment 5 for Group Sail workups that culminated in the successful firing of three SM-1 missiles. By the end of 2001, the ship had completed Final Evaluation Period work and had been declared ready for deployment.

That next phase made USS KLAKRING one of the most productive counter-drug frigates in the Atlantic Fleet. During 2002 counter-drug operations, her official command history states that she took down a fishing vessel and seized more than 12 tons of cocaine, described in the report as the largest maritime drug seizure in history. In the same general period she also took part in UNITAS 43-02, visiting Panama, Chile, and Peru in June and July 2002. In 2003 she emerged from maintenance in January, continued an Intermediate Maintenance Availability at Mayport, held an awards ceremony on March 18, 2003, onloaded ammunition at Yorktown in April, trained in Norfolk, completed Aviation Certification, Initial Assessment, Command Assessment of Readiness and Training phase II, and Underway Demonstration, and then in June conducted a live-fire force-protection exercise using Afloat Training Group's remote-controlled small attack targets. In July she served as opposition forces during USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) strike group COMPTUEX workups, then on August 20, 2003, marked her twentieth commissioning anniversary and on that same day completed her Final Evaluation Problem. She later visited Brunswick, Georgia, in October, where she became the first U.S. naval ship to make a port visit there in eleven years, and closed the year as opposition forces for the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON strike group during its COMPTUEX.

On February 9, 2004, USS KLAKRING deployed with Nato Standing Naval Forces Atlantic, a mission that reflected the post-September 11 maritime-security climate and the expanding use of frigates in alliance response forces, patrols, and readiness exercises. Official Navy history summarizes 2004-2005 as a period in which she played an active role in a NATO reaction maritime force, and records her return home on December 20, 2005. On May 24, 2006, she arrived in New York City for Fleet Week.

In 2007, she completed another major southern deployment: she returned to Mayport on October 5, 2007, after a six-month counter-narco-terrorism deployment for U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command, with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 42 Detachment 1 and an embarked Coast Guard law-enforcement detachment. That cruise was credited with the interdiction of roughly $358 million worth of cocaine and the detention of fifteen suspected smugglers. At the end of that year she was also operating off the U.S. East Coast as simulated opposition forces for USS NASSAU's Expeditionary Strike Group COMPTUEX.

In 2008, she shifted back toward the eastern Atlantic and European waters, arriving at Faslane, Scotland, on October 1, 2008, for Joint Warrior and then making a routine call at Portsmouth before getting underway again on November 12. Her 2009 deployment is unusually well documented: she departed Lisbon on February 16, 2009, to join Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 with German frigate FGS EMDEN and Portuguese frigate NRP ALVARES CABRAL. By February 24, 2009, she was participating in Exercise Fanal 09 as opposition forces to French aircraft carrier CHARLES DE GAULLE. The group departed Palermo on March 1 after Loyal Mariner activity. USS KLAKRING reached Souda Bay on March 16, Sevastopol on March 25, departed Batumi on April 3, left Bar on April 16, visited Dubrovnik from April 28 to May 1, returned to Souda Bay on June 4, arrived in Brest on June 19 before Exercise Frukus in the Bay of Biscay, and returned to Mayport on July 29, 2009, after six months in the Sixth Fleet area.

Another major southward deployment followed on April 5, 2010, when she sailed for Southern Seas 2010. She visited Port Castries, St. Lucia, on April 10; Fortaleza on April 21; Salvador on April 27; Montevideo on May 7; Punta Arenas on June 2 after leaving Buenos Aires and taking part in the Atlantic phase of Unitas 51; Coquimbo through June 15; Lima through June 24; Callao on July 3; bilateral anti-submarine Silent Forces Exercise with Peruvian frigates and submarines on July 6-11; Oranjestad on August 9; Willemstad on August 14; Santa Marta on August 19; Santo Domingo by September 14; and finally back at Mayport on September 29, 2010, after nearly six months in the U.S. Southern Command area of operations.

Later in 2010, USS KLAKRING also served as an opposing force for USS ENTERPRISE before entering maintenance in drydock at BAE Shipyard in Jacksonville, completed on January 8, 2011. On February 25, 2011, Cmdr. Darrell S. Canady relieved Cmdr. Scott M. Smith at Mayport, and on September 23, 2011, the ship conducted a Friends and Family Day Cruise. In 2012, she visited Charleston on February 10 for training with The Citadel's Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps midshipmen, then operated on May 10 as opposition forces during the USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69) carrier strike group's COMPTUEX.

Her final deployment began on June 29, 2012, when she departed Mayport with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 42 Detachment 2 and four MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopters for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations off the Horn of Africa. Official history notes that she crossed the equator en route to the Seychelles on September 8, 2012. She visited Victoria, Seychelles, on September 9, Port Louis, Mauritius, by October 10, and departing Souda Bay on November 16, before returning to Mayport on December 1, 2012, after a five-month deployment in the Fifth and Sixth Fleet areas.

The ship's active career ended quickly after that final return. USS KLAKRING was decommissioned at Mayport on March 22, 2013, after nearly thirty years of service.

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USS KLAKRING Patch Gallery:

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USS KLAKRING Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by Karl-Heinz Ahles and shows USS KLAKRING at Portsmouth, Va., on May 11, 1999.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the KLAKRING laid up among her sisterships at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The photos were taken on October 21, 2014.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the KLAKRING laid up with her sisterships alongside at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The photos were taken on October 17, 2016.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the KLAKRING laid up at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The photos were taken on October 7, 2018.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the KLAKRING laid up at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on May 27, 2022. KLAKRING is the first ship in the row. Her hullnumber has been painted over.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the KLAKRING laid up at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on May 26, 2023.

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