USS Schofield (FFG-3)

History
United States
Namesake:	Frank Herman Schofield
Ordered:	4 January 1962
Builder:	Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company, Seattle, Washington
Laid down:	15 April 1963
Launched:	7 December 1963
Acquired:	3 May 1968
Commissioned:	11 May 1968 as DEG-3
Decommissioned:	8 September 1988
Reclassified:	as FFG-3 30 June 1975
Struck:	25 January 1992
Motto:	Liberte par Vigilance
Fate:	Sunk as a target, 2 November 1999
General characteristics
Class and type:	Brooke-class frigate
Displacement:	3,426 tons full
Length:	414 ft (126 m)
Beam:	44 ft (13 m)
Draft:	14 ft 6 in (4.4 m)
Propulsion:	2 Foster-Wheeler boilers, 1 Westinghouse geared turbine
Speed:	27.2 knots (31.3 mph; 50.4 km/h)
Range:	4,000 nautical miles (7,000 km)
Complement:	14 officers, 214 crew
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-52 3D air search radar AN/SPS-10 surface search radar AN/SPG-51 missile fire control radar AN/SQS-26 bow mounted sonar
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 AN/SLQ-25 Nixie
Armament:	1 × 5"/38 caliber gun 1 × Mk 22 RIM-24 Tartar/RIM-66 Standard missile launcher (16 missiles) 1 × 8 cell ASROC launcher 2 × 3 12.75 in (324mm) Mk 32 torpedo tubes, Mk 46 torpedoes 2 × MK 37 torpedo tubes (fixed, stern, removed later)
Aircraft carried:	SH-2 Seasprite

USS Schofield (FFG-3) was a Brooke-class frigate laid down on 15 April 1963 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Co., Seattle, Washington and launched on 7 December 1963. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. F. Perry Schofield and commissioned on 11 May 1968, Comdr. Earl H. Graffam in command. The ship was named after US Navy Admiral Frank Herman Schofield. The original First Lieutenant was LTJG Lee Witham. Schofield received four battle stars for service in Vietnam.

Following shakedown, Schofield conducted training exercises, both independently and with her squadron, Destroyer Squadron 23, out of her home port of Long Beach, California. With the new year, 1969, she participated in 1st Fleet exercises; and, at the end of March, she headed across the Pacific for her first WestPac deployment.

On 24 April, the guided missile escort ship joined the 7th Fleet. On 7 May, she commenced operations with USS Bon Homme Richard in the Gulf of Tonkin. A week later, she put into Subic Bay; then, after upkeep, she joined other 7th Fleet units in Operation Sea Spirit, a combined SEATO exercise terminated on 3 June following the collision of USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754) and HMAS Melbourne.

On 17 June, Schofield moved back into the Gulf of Tonkin, remaining into July. On the 6th, she departed the area and headed for Japan where she participated in a joint United States Navy-Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force exercise; then, toward the end of the month, she again set a course for the South China Sea.

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