{"id":28581,"date":"2019-10-02T20:28:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T20:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/10\/02\/lcs-fires-ship-killing-missile-during-ex-frigate-fords-sinkex\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:32:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:32:55","slug":"lcs-fires-ship-killing-missile-during-ex-frigate-fords-sinkex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2019\/10\/02\/lcs-fires-ship-killing-missile-during-ex-frigate-fords-sinkex\/","title":{"rendered":"LCS fires ship-killing missile during ex-frigate Ford\u2019s SINKEX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It might take a village to raise a child but it took a Naval Strike Missile fired from a littoral combat ship and a barrage of rockets and bombs from three maritime patrol squadrons, Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses and two of Singapore\u2019s warships to send the ex-frigate Ford more than a thousand fathoms deep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday\u2019s SINKEX of the Oliver Hazard Perry-class Ford gathered a formidable force 170 nautical miles off the coast of Guam, including the Air Force\u2019s 69th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron, the Navy\u2019s Maritime Patrol Squadrons 1, 5 and 47 and Singapore\u2019s multi-role stealth frigates Formidable and Intrepid, which pounded the decommissioned vessel with Harpoon missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from MH-60S Sea Hawks flown by Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25 also sliced and diced Ford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the highlight of the day might\u2019ve been the debut of the Independence-variant littoral combat ship Gabrielle Giffords<\/a>, which fired its new Raytheon\/Kongsberg-made Naval Strike Missile<\/a>, which can reach an enemy ship from more than 100 nautical miles away, skimming the sea at high subsonic speed while its electronic brain homes in on its target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s about 30 nautical miles farther than the published range of the Harpoon and it\u2019s so precise that sailors can pinpoint where it will spear into a vessel, such as blowing apart an engine room or decapitating a bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The littoral combat ship Gabrielle Giffords launches a Naval Strike Missile on Tuesday during exercise Pacific Griffin. (Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Navy officials, however, did not release which munition actually sank the hulk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And although they later disclosed that the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine Key West was present during the Exercise Pacific Griffin 2019 event, they didn\u2019t say if it delivered a torpedo deathblow to the former frigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis exercise provided important opportunities for realistic at-sea training with live ordnance, conditions that cannot be duplicated otherwise,\u201d said Capt. Matthew Jerbi, commodore of the Japan-based Destroyer Squadron 7 and co-commander of the Task Group for the exercise, in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTraining alongside our Singapore partners in a complex exercise like this is invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Military Sealift Command’s rescue and salvage ship Grasp takes control of the decommissioned Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate Ford’s tow from fleet ocean tug Sioux off the coast of Hawaii on Sept. 9. (Sarah Burford\/Military Sealift Command)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although the date of the SINKEX in the Philippine Sea was a secret, Ford\u2019s fate really wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sept. 11, Military Sealift Command announced that its fleet ocean tug Sioux successfully transferred the hulk to its rescue salvage ship Grasp off the coast of Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sioux had towed it from Bremerton, Washington, where it had been stripped of environmental contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), transformers and capacitors, trash, mercury and petroleum products, leaving what officials called \u201cnothing more than a shell” for Navy Sea Systems Command to certify for destruction off Guam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t something we do very often, but it is something we can do, if we have to,\u201d said Michael Howell, Military Sealift Command Pacific\u2019s Combat Logistics Force Tow and Salvage Ship scheduler, at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this case, we couldn\u2019t bring Sioux and the tow into Hawaii because of environmental concerns, so we had to go with the decision to transfer at sea.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate Ford before it was decommissioned. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The former frigate was named for Gunner\u2019s Mate 2nd Class Patrick O. Ford<\/a>, who posthumously received the Navy Cross for his heroism during the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 21, 1968, Ford was Patrol River Boat 750\u2032s aft machine-gunner along the upper My Tho River near the village of Cai Be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After capturing an enemy sampan, PRB 750 and a sister boat were ambushed by Viet Cong guerrillas firing rockets and machine guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six B-40 rockets killed Ford\u2019s patrol leader and coxswain and set the boat ablaze. Ford fired back. Then, with his clothing still on fire, he assisted three wounded shipmates into the river and was the last man off 750.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Viet Cong machine gun blast killed him when he entered the water, according to the Navy\u2019s official history of the battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The frigate honoring his legacy was laid down by Todd Pacific Shipyards Corp., in San Pedro, California, on July 11, 1983, launched less than a year later and commissioned on June 29, 1985, in its homeport of Everett, Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy decommissioned Ford in 2013 after more than 28 years of service providing anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine protection for U.S. warships and merchant vessels.<\/p>\n\n\n\t