USS Thach (FFG-43)

USS Thach in the Persian Gulf, 2003
History
United States
Name:	Thach
Namesake:	Admiral John Thach
Awarded:	27 April 1979
Builder:	Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, California
Laid down:	6 March 1981
Launched:	18 December 1982
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Madalyn J. Thach
Commissioned:	17 March 1983
Decommissioned:	1 November 2013
Struck:	15 November 2013
Homeport:	Naval Base San Diego
Identification:	Hull symbol:FFG-43 Code letters:NJST
Motto:	"Ready and Able"
Fate:	Sunk as part of a sinking exercise on 14 July 2016 during RIMPAC 2016.
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate
Displacement:	4,100 long tons (4,200 t), full load
Length:	453 feet (138 m), overall
Beam:	45 feet (14 m)
Draft:	22 feet (6.7 m)
Propulsion:	2 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines generating 41,000 shp (31 MW) through a single shaft and variable pitch propeller 2 × Auxiliary Propulsion Units, 350 hp (260 kW) retractable electric azimuth thrusters for maneuvering and docking.
Speed:	over 29 knots (54 km/h)
Range:	5,000 nautical miles at 18 knots (9,300 km at 33 km/h)
Complement:	15 officers and 190 enlisted, plus SH-60 LAMPS detachment of roughly six officer pilots and 15 enlisted maintainers
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-49 air-search radar AN/SPS-55 surface-search radar CAS and STIR fire-control radar AN/SQS-56 sonar. AN/SQR-19 Towed Array Sonar System AN/SQQ-89 ASW Integration System
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32 Mk36 SRBOC Decoy System
Armament:	As built: 1 × OTO Melara Mk 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun 2 × Mk 32 triple-tube (324 mm) launchers for Mark 46 torpedoes 1 × Vulcan Phalanx CIWS 4 × .50-cal (12.7 mm) machine guns. 1 × Mk 13 Mod 4 single-arm launcher for Harpoon anti-ship missiles and SM-1MR Standard anti-ship/air missiles (40 round magazine) Note: As of 2004, Mk 13 systems removed from all active US vessels of this class.
Aircraft carried:	2 × SH-60 LAMPS III helicopters
Aviation facilities:	2 × Hangars RAST helicopter hauldown system

USS Thach (FFG-43), an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Admiral John Thach, a Naval Aviator during World War II, who invented the Thach Weave dogfighting tactic.

Thach was laid down on 6 March 1981 by the Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, California; launched on 18 December 1982; sponsored by Mrs. Madalyn J. Thach, widow of the namesake; and commissioned on 17 March 1984 at Long Beach, Cmdr. Dale H. Moses in command.

Thach's mission was to provide anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine protection for carrier battle groups, naval expeditionary forces, replenishment groups, convoys, and other military and merchant shipping. The new direction for the naval service remained focused on the ability to project power from the sea in the critical littoral regions for the world.

Success in the warfare environment of the 1990s and beyond required thorough evaluation, rapid decision-making and almost instantaneous response to any postulated threat. The systems aboard Thach were designed to meet these demanding and dynamic prerequisites, and to do so with minimum human interface. The Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk's video data link system brought state-of-the-art computer technology to the warfare arena, as well as integrating sensors and weapons to provide a total offensive and defensive weapons system.

In addition, computers controlled and monitored the gas turbine engines (the same engines installed on DC-10 aircraft) and electrical generators. Digital electronic logic circuits and remotely operated valves were monitored in Central Control Station which initiated engine start and resulted in a "ready to go" status in less than ten minutes.