Garcia-class frigate

USS Albert David underway in December 1975.
Class overview
Name:	Garcia class
Builders:	Various
Operators:	United States Navy  Brazilian Navy  Pakistan Navy
Preceded by:	Bronstein class
Succeeded by:	Knox class
Subclasses:	Brooke class
Built:	1962–1968
In commission:	1964–1990 (USN)
Completed:	10 + Glover
Laid up:	1 (as Para D27 in Brazilian service)
Retired:	9 + Glover
General characteristics
Type:	Frigate
Displacement:	2,624 tons (light)
Length:	414 ft 6 in (126.34 m)
Beam:	44 ft 1 in (13.44 m)
Draft:	24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Propulsion:	2 Foster-Wheeler boilers, 1 steam turbine, 35,000 shp (26,000 kW), single screw
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range:	4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	16 officers 231 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-40 air search radar AN/SPS-10 surface search radar AN/SQS-26 bow mounted sonar
Armament:	2 × single 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. Mk 30 guns 1 × 8-tube ASROC Mk16 launcher (16 missiles) 2 × triple 12.75 in (324 mm) Mk 32 torpedo tubes, Mk 46 torpedoes 2 × MK 37 torpedo tubes (fixed, stern) (removed later)
Aircraft carried:	Gyrodyne QH-50 (planned) / SH-2 LAMPS

Garcia-class frigates were United States Navy warships. These frigates were originally ocean escorts bearing the hull classification DE or DEG until 1975. The ships were commissioned between 1964 and 1968 and decommissioned between 1988 and 1990.

Frigates fulfill a Protection of Shipping (POS) mission as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combatants for amphibious expeditionary forces, underway replenishment groups and merchant convoys.

The Garcia class was a larger version of the Bronstein class.

The Bronstein ocean escort was a response to the development of high speed nuclear submarines in the late 1950s. They were powered by steam engines instead of diesel engines and incorporated a first class anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon system: the SQS-26BX sonar, MK 112 ASROC rocket launcher, and MK 32 torpedo tubes. Gun (naval artillery) armament (MK 33 3 inch/50 caliber) was changed in the Garcia class to two MK 30 5 inch/38 caliber guns.

There were two distinct breeds of ships bearing the DE hull classification, the World War II destroyer escorts (some of which were converted to DERs) and the postwar DE/DEG classes, which were known as ocean escorts despite carrying the same type symbol as the World War II destroyer escorts. All DEs, DEGs, and DERs were reclassified as FFs, FFGs, or FFRs on 30 June 1975 by the United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification.