View source for USS Hepburn

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = 330-CFD-DN-SC-90-01817 (23105875850).jpg
| Ship caption = USS ''Hepburn'' (FF-1055) underway
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = 
| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = {{USN flag|1991}}
| Ship name = ''Hepburn''
| Ship namesake = [[Arthur Japy Hepburn]]
| Ship owner = 
| Ship operator = 
| Ship registry = 
| Ship route = 
| Ship ordered = 22 July 1964
| Ship awarded = 
| Ship builder = [[Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division|Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division]], [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]], [[California]]
| Ship original cost = 
| Ship yard number = 
| Ship way number = 
| Ship laid down = 1 June 1966
| Ship launched = 25 March 1967
| Ship sponsor = Mrs. Arthur J. Hepburn and Mrs. Lorraine Hepburn Barse
| Ship christened = 
| Ship completed = 
| Ship acquired = 27 June 1969
| Ship commissioned = 3 July 1969
| Ship recommissioned = 
| Ship decommissioned = 20 December 1991
| Ship maiden voyage = 
| Ship in service = 
| Ship out of service = 
| Ship renamed = 
| Ship reclassified = 
| Ship refit = 
| Ship struck = 11 January 1995
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship homeport = 
| Ship identification = 
| Ship motto = 
| Ship nickname = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship honors = 
| Ship captured = 
| Ship fate = Sunk as target, 4 June 2002
| Ship notes = 
| Ship badge = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption = 
| Ship class = {{sclass|Knox|frigate}}
| Ship displacement = 3,238 tons (4,231 full load)
| Ship length = {{convert|438|ft|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship beam = {{convert|46|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship draft = {{convert|24|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship power = 
| Ship propulsion = *2 × CE 1200psi boilers
*1 Westinghouse geared turbine
*1 shaft, {{convert|35000|shp|MW|abbr=on}}
| Ship speed = over {{convert|27|kn|mph km/h|0}}
| Ship range = {{convert|4500|nmi|km|-1}} at {{convert|20|kn|mph km/h|0}}
| Ship endurance = 
| Ship complement = 18 officers, 267 enlisted
| Ship crew = 
| Ship time to activate = 
| Ship sensors = *AN/SPS-40 Air Search Radar
*AN/SPS-67 Surface Search Radar
*AN/SQS-26 [[Sonar]]
*AN/SQR-18 [[Towed array sonar]] system
*[[AN/SPG-53|Mk68]] Gun Fire Control System
| Ship EW = [[SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite|AN/SLQ-32 Electronics Warfare System]]
| Ship armament = *one Mk-16 8 cell missile launcher for [[RUR-5 ASROC]] and [[Harpoon missile]]s
*one Mk-42 [[5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun|5-inch/54]] caliber gun
*[[Mark 46 torpedo]]es from four single tube launchers)
*one Mk-25 BPDMS launcher for [[Sea Sparrow]] missiles later replaced by one [[Phalanx CIWS]]
| Ship armor = 
| Ship aircraft = one [[SH-2 Seasprite]] (LAMPS I) helicopter
| Ship aircraft facilities = 
| Ship notes = 
}}
|}

'''USS ''Hepburn'' (FF-1055)''' was a [[United States Navy]] {{sclass|Knox|frigate}} named for [[Arthur Japy Hepburn]].

== Construction ==
She was laid down 1 June 1966, by [[Todd Pacific Shipyards, Los Angeles Division|Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division]], [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]], [[California]]; and launched 25 March 1967; sponsored by Mrs. Arthur J. Hepburn and Mrs. Lorraine Hepburn Barse. She was delivered 27 June 1969, and commissioned 3 July 1969.

===Design and description===
The ''Knox'' class design was derived from the {{sclass|Brooke|frigate}} modified to extend range and without a long-range missile system. The ships had an [[length overall|overall length]] of {{convert|438|ft|m|1}}, a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|47|ft|m|1}} and a [[draft (ship)|draft]] of {{convert|25|ft|m|1}}. They [[Displacement (ship)|displaced]] {{convert|4066|LT|t}} at full load. Their crew consisted of 13 officers and 211 enlisted men.<ref>Friedman, pp. 357–60, 425</ref>

The ships were equipped with one [[Westinghouse Combustion Turbine Systems Division|Westinghouse]] geared [[steam turbine]] that drove the single [[propeller shaft]]. The turbine was designed to produce {{convert|35000|shp|lk=in}}, using steam provided by 2 [[Combustion Engineering|C-E]] [[boiler]]s, to reach the designed speed of {{convert|27|kn|lk=in}}. The ''Knox'' class had a range of {{convert|4500|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|20|kn}}.<ref name=g8>Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 598</ref>

The ''Knox''-class ships were armed with a [[5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun]] forward and a single [[3-inch/50-caliber gun]] aft. They mounted an eight-round [[RUR-5 ASROC|ASROC]] launcher between the 5-inch (127&nbsp;mm) gun and the [[bridge (nautical)|bridge]]. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two twin {{convert|12.75|in|adj=on}} [[Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes|Mk 32 torpedo tubes]]. The ships were equipped with a torpedo-carrying [[Gyrodyne QH-50|DASH]] drone helicopter; its telescoping hangar and landing pad were positioned [[amidships]] aft of the [[mack (naval architecture)|mack]]. Beginning in the 1970s, the DASH was replaced by a [[SH-2 Seasprite]] LAMPS I helicopter and the hangar and landing deck were accordingly enlarged. Most ships also had the 3-inch (76&nbsp;mm) gun replaced by an eight-cell [[RIM-7 Sea Sparrow#Basic point defense missile system (BPDMS)|BPDMS]] missile launcher in the early 1970s.<ref>Friedman, pp. 360–61; Gardiner, Chumley & Budzbon, p. 598</ref>

==Service history==
''Hepburn'' was outfitted in 1969 and proceeded for a "shakedown" cruise to San Francisco, Bremerton, WA, Nanaimo and Vancouver, BC and Pearl Harbor, HI.  In 1970 she sailed with a contingent of Midshipmen and then a dependents cruise.
Hepburn left for her first WESTPAC in January 1971 participating in NGFS operations on the coast of Vietnam and plane guarding carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Hepburn transited the Sea of Japan and performed operations while being tailed by two Soviet cruisers. She visited Midway, Guam, Subic Bay in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Sasebo and Yokosuka Japan. Hepburn escorted the carrier Ranger back to the States in June 1971.

''Hepburn'' was an escorting member of the Indian Ocean Task Group of 1976. The task group consisted of the [[cruiser]] {{USS|Fox|CG-33|2}}, frigate {{USS|Gray|FF-1054|2}} and the [[Replenishment oiler|oiler]] {{USNS|Passumpsic||2}} . The task group sailed from [[Subic Bay]] in December 1975. The task group made port calls at [[Singapore]], [[Karachi]], [[Mombasa]], [[Réunion]] and [[Diego Garcia]]. While transiting from Karachi to the southern Indian Ocean, the group passed through the anchorage area of the [[Soviet]] task forces anchored off the island of [[Socotra]]. During their time in the [[Arabian Sea]], the task group conducted the first ever acoustical survey of this body of water. The Task group returned to Subic Bay in March 1976.

''Hepburn'' left for WESTPAC in August 1979. She visited Guam, Subic Bay in the Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong and Yokosuka Japan. While in Australia she participated in Exercise Kangaroo III. Upon completion of the exercise, she transited to Melbourne to embark the 7th Fleet Band and then transited to Fremantle/Perth to represent the USA celebrating Western Australia’s 150th anniversary. Hepburn escorted the Guided Missile Destroyer Wilson back to the States in February 1980.

She was decommissioned 20 December 1991 and struck 11 January 1995. ''Hepburn'' was sunk as a target on 4 June 2002.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
*{{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1982|isbn=0-87021-733-X}}
*{{cite book|last1=Gardiner|first1=Robert|last2=Chumbley|first2=Stephen|last3=Budzbon |first3=Przemysław|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995|year=1995|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=1-55750-132-7|name-list-style=amp}}
{{DANFS|https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/hepburn.html}}

== External links ==
*{{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=FF1055|title=Naval Vessel Register FF1055}}
*[https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/h/hepburn.html DANFS Hepburn]
*[http://www.navsource.org/archives/06/06021055.htm Navsource images]
*[http://www.navysite.de/ff/ff1055.htm Navysite.de]

{{Knox class frigate}}
{{Los Angeles SB&DDC and Todd, Los Angeles ships}}
{{2002 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hepburn (FF-1055)}}
[[Category:Knox-class frigates]]
[[Category:Cold War frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:1967 ships]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]