Frigate Cost $200 Million, Was Commissioned in ’82

The Stark, a 445-foot guided missile frigate of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, carries a normal complement of about 200 officers and men, according to Jane’s Fighting Ships, a standard naval reference work.

Commissioned in 1982 at a cost of about $200 million, it is designed to function as an escort for naval battle ships.

It normally is equipped with two helicopters and armed with Standard MR surface-to-air missiles and Harpoon surface-to-surface missiles. It also carries a so-called Phalanx close-in weapon system to shoot down enemy missiles fired against it.

The Stark, under the command of Cmdr. G.R. Brindel, is part of a U.S. naval force of five ships that regularly patrols the gulf, using Bahrain as a base. The home port of the Stark is Mayport, Fla.

The ship has a top speed of 29 knots, according to Jane’s, but also is equipped with auxiliary propellers for emergency use if the main engines or propeller shaft is damaged. The top speed of the auxiliary drive is only 3 to 5 knots, according to Jane’s.

In October, 1984, the Stark was involved in another incident in the gulf. It helped rescue the crew of the Panamanian-registered Pacific Protector, a diving support vessel that caught fire after being hit by an Iranian missile. Two of the Protector’s crewmen died in that incident; the captain was missing and presumed dead.

The Stark was also spotted in September, 1983, among U.S. vessels searching for wreckage from Korean Air Lines Flight 007, which crashed into the Sea of Japan after being shot down by Soviet missiles. The crash killed all 269 people aboard the plane.