USS Underwood

	USS Underwood underway in the Caribbean Sea in 2006
History
United States
Name	Underwood
Namesake	Captain Gordon Waite Underwood
Ordered	27 April 1979
Builder	Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Laid down	30 July 1981
Launched	6 February 1982
Sponsored by	Elizabeth T. Underwood
Christened	6 February 1982
Acquired	14 January 1983
Commissioned	29 January 1983
Decommissioned	8 March 2013
Homeport	Mayport, Florida
Identification	Hull symbol:FFG-36; Code letters:NGWU; ;
Motto	"Fear the Wood"
Status	Undergoing scrapping
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)
Draught	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	17 Officers and 198 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.;
Electronic warfare ; & decoys	AN/SLQ-32
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

USS Underwood (FFG-36) was the twenty-seventh ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry-class of guided-missile frigates, named for Captain Gordon Waite Underwood (1910–1978).

Ordered from Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, on 27 April 1979 as part of the FY79 program, Underwood was laid down on 30 July 1981, launched on 6 February 1982, and commissioned on 29 January 1983. She was assigned to Destroyer Squadron 14 and homeported at Mayport, FL.

On 13 January 2010, Underwood was ordered to assist in the humanitarian relief efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.^[1]

Underwood was extensively used to counteract drug trafficking in Latin America with the assistance of the Coast Guard.^[2]

Underwood was decommissioned at Naval Station Mayport on 8 March 2013.^[3] It was then moved to the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it was laid up.

On 27 February 2023, Underwood arrived at Brownsville, Texas, where it will be scrapped.^[4]

References[edit]

^ Bacon, Lance M. (13 January 2010). "Carl Vinson, 6 Other Ships Headed to Haiti". Navy Times. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
^ "America's Expanding War on Drugs in Latin America". HuffPost. 3 February 2013.
^ https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/military/2013/03/13/farewell-uss-underwood/15835414007/
^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rukR5dgl6SM

This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.