U.S. Navy
Frigates
Before the Navy called them frigates, it called them destroyer escorts - 461 built in two years to fight the Battle of the Atlantic. They hunted U-boats, screened convoys, and charged heavy cruisers at Samar. After the war, they tracked Soviet submarines across three oceans. In 1975, the Navy finally gave them the name the rest of the world already used. From the Buckley-class DEs of WWII to the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigates of the Cold War, the escort has always been the ship that does the unglamorous work that wins wars.
World War II - The Escort Navy
1943 - 1945
DE
DE-5 - DE-258
97
Ships
1943
Commissioned
3×3"/50
Main Battery
1,436
TONS
The first purpose-built destroyer escorts in the U.S. Navy. Short-hulled and diesel-electric powered, Evarts-class DEs were designed for one job - killing submarines. Built in a hurry to answer the U-boat crisis, they were slow, cramped, and short-ranged. None of that mattered in the mid-Atlantic, where they escorted convoys through wolfpack alleys and kept the supply lines to Britain alive.
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DE
DE-51 - DE-699
102
Ships
1943
Commissioned
3×3"/50
Main Battery
1,740
TONS
The most numerous destroyer escort class of the war. Turbo-electric drive gave the Buckleys more speed than the Evarts, and they carried torpedo tubes for surface engagements. USS England (DE-635) sank six Japanese submarines in twelve days in May 1944 - the most prolific sub-killing run by any ship in naval history. Some Buckleys were converted to high-speed transports (APD), landing Marines on hostile beaches across the Pacific.
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DE
DE-99 - DE-750
157
Ships
1943
Commissioned
3×3"/50
Main Battery
1,602
TONS
The diesel workhorses of the convoy routes. Cannon-class used diesel-electric drive while Edsalls ran on FMR diesels - both reliable, fuel-efficient, and built by the dozens. Together, 157 ships rolled out of American shipyards. After the war, these were the DEs most heavily exported to allied navies - serving in the fleets of Brazil, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and a dozen other nations well into the 1970s.
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DE
DE-224 - DE-438
105
Ships
1944
Commissioned
2×5"/38
Main Battery
1,811
TONS
The final evolution of the WWII destroyer escort. Both classes swapped the 3"/50 popguns for twin 5"/38 mounts - the same gun that armed fleet destroyers. The upgrade transformed DEs from pure sub hunters into credible surface combatants. USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), a Butler-class escort, proved it at Samar - charging Japanese heavy cruisers at point-blank range alongside the destroyers of Taffy 3. Roberts was sunk. Her crew was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation.
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PF
PF-3 - PF-102
96
Ships
1943
Commissioned
3×3"/50
Main Battery
2,238
TONS
The only WWII ships the U.S. Navy actually called frigates. Based on the British River-class design, Tacomas were larger than DEs and built for sustained ocean escort duty. Many were manned by Coast Guard crews. Twenty-one went directly to the Royal Navy as the Colony-class. After the war, dozens were transferred to allied nations - some served in foreign navies until the 1970s.
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1939-1945
CONVOY ESCORT DUTY
3,500+
Ships Sunk
783
U-Boats Destroyed
72,200
Allied Sailors KIA
461
DEs BUILT
The longest continuous military campaign of World War II. German U-boats sank over 3,500 merchant ships and nearly severed Britain's lifeline across the Atlantic. Destroyer escorts were built specifically to answer this threat - cheap enough to mass-produce, small enough to escort slow convoys, and lethal enough to hunt submarines with depth charges, hedgehog mortars, and later, homing torpedoes. By 1944, hunter-killer groups built around escort carriers and DEs had broken the wolfpacks. The 461 destroyer escorts built during the war represent the largest class of warships ever mass-produced by the United States.
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PACIFIC
MAY 19-31, 1944
6
Subs Sunk
12
Days
Hedgehog
WEAPON USED
1
SHIP
Between May 19 and May 31, 1944, the Buckley-class destroyer escort USS England sank six Japanese submarines - I-16, RO-106, RO-104, RO-116, RO-108, and RO-105. All six kills came from her ahead-throwing hedgehog mortar. No other ship in the history of naval warfare has matched this record. Admiral King reportedly said: "There'll always be an England in the U.S. Navy."
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Cold War - Ocean Escorts
1954 - 1975
DE
DE-1006 - DE-1014
13
Ships
1954
Commissioned
4×3"/50
Main Battery
1,914
TONS
The first destroyer escort designed from scratch after WWII. Purpose-built for Cold War anti-submarine warfare with modern sonar and weapons, the Dealey-class traded the multi-role compromises of wartime DEs for focused ASW capability. Named for Medal of Honor recipient CDR Samuel David Dealey, the most decorated submariner in Navy history.
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DE/FF
DE-1040 - DE-1051
10
Ships
1964
Commissioned
ASROC
Anti-Sub Rocket
3,403
TONS
A major leap in escort capability. Garcias carried the ASROC anti-submarine rocket, an SQS-26 bow sonar that could detect submarines at convergence zone ranges, and two 5"/38 guns. Designed to operate independently in open ocean - hunting Soviet submarines far from the carrier battle group. Several were later equipped to tow the SQS-35 variable-depth sonar, extending their reach against deep-diving Soviet boats.
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DEG/FFG
DEG-1 - DEG-6
6
Ships
1966
Commissioned
Tartar
SAM System
3,426
TONS
The guided-missile version of the Garcia-class - and the first escorts in the Navy armed with surface-to-air missiles. A single-arm Tartar launcher replaced one of the two 5"/38 mounts, giving convoy escorts their own area air defense for the first time. Only six were built, but the Brooke-class proved the concept that frigates could carry missiles. Reclassified FFG in 1975.
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DE/FF
FF-1052 - FF-1097
46
Ships
1969
Commissioned
1×5"/54
Main Battery
4,260
TONS
The backbone of the Cold War escort fleet. Forty-six Knox-class ships formed the largest frigate class built for the U.S. Navy since WWII. Single 5"/54 gun forward, ASROC launcher, and an SH-2 Seasprite LAMPS helicopter that extended their submarine detection range by miles. Designed as dedicated ASW platforms for convoy escort across the North Atlantic - the same mission DEs were built for in 1943, now fought against nuclear submarines carrying ballistic missiles. Knox-class frigates served the fleet for over twenty-five years.
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Guided Missile Frigates
1977 - 2015
FFG
FFG-7 - FFG-61
51
Ships
1977
Commissioned
SM-1
Standard Missile
4,100
TONS
The defining American frigate. Fifty-one Oliver Hazard Perry-class ships formed the low end of the high-low mix that shaped the Cold War fleet. Gas turbine powered, armed with Standard SM-1 missiles, a 76mm gun, and carrying two SH-60 Seahawk helicopters - the Perry was built to escort convoys and carrier groups against Soviet submarines and aircraft. But the Persian Gulf tested them against threats nobody planned for. USS Stark took two Exocet missiles and survived. USS Samuel B. Roberts hit an Iranian mine and her crew saved the ship. The Perry-class proved that frigates could take hits and fight. Australia, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, and Egypt built their own variants. The last U.S. Navy Perry was decommissioned in 2015, but dozens still serve worldwide.
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1987-1988
OPERATION EARNEST WILL
37
KIA - USS Stark
2
Exocets Hit Stark
Roberts
Mined 14 APR 1988
10
CREW SAVED SHIP
On May 17, 1987, two Exocet missiles slammed into USS Stark (FFG-31). Thirty-seven sailors died. The crew fought fires for twenty-four hours and saved the ship. Eleven months later, USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) struck an Iranian mine that blew a twenty-three-foot hole in her hull and nearly broke her in half. Her crew shored bulkheads, fought flooding, and refused to let their ship sink. Four days later, the Navy responded with Operation Praying Mantis - the largest U.S. naval surface engagement since WWII. Perry-class frigates were in the middle of both.
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Next Generation
2020 - Future
FFG
FFG-62 - FFG-63
2
Ships Building
2020
Contract Award
SPY-6
Radar Planned
7,291
TONS
Based on the Italian FREMM design and named after the Navy's original six frigates, the Constellation-class was supposed to be the fleet's next guided missile frigate - 20 ships with Aegis radar, 32 VLS cells, and a full ASW suite. Design changes ballooned the ship to 15% commonality with its parent hull. By 2025, the lead ship was only 12% complete and three years behind schedule. In November 2025, the Navy cancelled the program beyond the first two hulls. Constellation and Congress will finish building. The rest won't.
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FUTURE
NEXT-GEN FRIGATE
50-65
Planned
~2028
First Hull in Water
NSC
Legend-Class Hull
4,750
TONS
After Constellation's collapse, the Navy pivoted to a proven American hull. FF(X) is based on the Coast Guard's Legend-class National Security Cutter - a ship Huntington Ingalls has already built ten of. Armed with Naval Strike Missiles, Rolling Airframe Missiles, a 57mm gun, and modular mission bays for containerized weapons and unmanned systems. No VLS on Flight I. The philosophy is simple: get steel in the water. Fifty to sixty-five hulls planned across multiple flights. The frigate returns to what it's always been - the ship that shows up.
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600+
Ships Built
14
Classes
82+
Years of Service
Escort
Sailors