USS Koelsch (FF-1049) was a frigate in service with the United States Navy from 1968 to 1989. She was then leased to Pakistan where she served as Siqqat (F-267) until 1994. The frigate was subsequently scrapped.
History Koelsch (DE-1049) was laid down as a destroyer escort on 19 February 1964 at Bay City, Michigan, by Defoe Shipbuilding Company and launched on 8 June 1965, sponsored by Miss Virginia L. Koelsch, niece of the late Lt. (j.g.) Koelsch. the ship conducted builders' trials on Lake Huron on 14–15 April 1967 and departed Bay City on 11 May 1967. She transited the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, and was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, USA, on 10 June 1967.
United States Navy 1960s With Newport, Rhode Island, designated as her home port, Koelsch spent the rest of 1967 at Boston, Massachusetts, much of it in drydock, fitting-out, workmen covering the teardrop-shaped sonar dome with an experimental rubber coating; installing the Antisubmarine Warfare Ship Command and Control System (ASWC&CS); replacing eight superheater tube stubs on 1A boiler; and removing the Drone Antisubmarine Helicopter (DASH) equipment in preparation for the ship's receiving a manned helicopter capability.
Koelsch deployed on a Northern European-Mediterranean cruise, departing from Naval Station Newport on 20 August 1968 and returning on 19 December. During the deployment, she visited Southampton(United Kingdom|(UK)]] (3-9 September); Stavanger, Norway (11-16 September); Hamburg, Germany (1-7 October); Lisbon, Portugal (21-24 October); Naples, Italy (1-7 November); Barcelona, Spain (2-7 December); and Gibraltar (9-11 December).
From 14 January to 22 March 1969, Koelsch remained at Boston undergoing post-shakedown availability (PSA). On 1 April, she departed her home port for the Virginia Capes to conduct individual exercises and type training. On 1 May, Koelsch again departed Newport, refueling in the Azores, to join the antisubmarine warfare carrier s task group operating in the eastern Atlantic. All ships of the force anchored off Spithead, between Portsmouth (UK) and the Isle of Wright, on 14 May to be reviewed two days later by Queen Elizabeth II from the royal yacht HMY Britannia. After a five-day visit at Cherbourg, France, the destroyer escort rejoined Wasp on 22 May to conduct Hunter-Killer Group (HuKGru) operations and to evaluate the installed Antisubmarine Warfare Tactical Data System (ASWTDS) west of Ireland. Koelsch continued those operations until departing for Newport on 5 July, interrupted by port visits to Oslo, Norway (4-7 June) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (23-30 June). The ship returned to Newport on 11 July, entering an upkeep period soon thereafter. She participated in operations Squeeze Play I (15-24 October) and Squeeze Play II (1-12 December), conducting ASW exercises off United States East Coast.
1970s Koelsch departed Newport on 5 February 1970 to participate in Squeeze Play III in the western Atlantic. She then conducted experimental ASW exercises and visited Bermuda twice (14–16 February and 22–23 February), before returning home on 2 March. On 13 April, she got underway for two weeks of independent exercises off the Virginia Capes punctuated by a liberty weekend at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia (USA), which commenced on 17 April. The ship participated in Squeeze Play IV (18–28 May) and Squeeze Play V (8–21 June) off the east coast of the United States. Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Atlantic (ComCruDesLant) awarded Koelsch the Rhode Island Navy League's Anti Submarine Warfare Trophy for her performance in the Squeeze Play evaluations, marking her as the outstanding ASW ship in the Atlantic Fleet.
Koelsch and her crew attended the Maine Lobster Festival at Rockland, Maine (31 July – 3 August 1970) before acting on special orders during her return voyage to Newport, searching for and apprehending three enlisted people allegedly deserting to Canada in a pleasure craft, and turning them over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Newport. The crew prepared their ship for a regular overhaul period by offloading ammunition at the Naval Weapons Station Earle, New Jersey, on 10 August and beginning a tender availability at Newport (21 August – 14 September). Koelsch remained at Boston Naval Shipyard for overhaul from 15 September to 21 December, a yard period broken by sea trials on 9 and 10 December.
The ship loaded ammunition at Naval Weapons Station Earle (18–19 January 1971) in preparation for refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She visited Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, for Weapons System Acceptance Trials (WSAT) (23–26 January) and Saint Croix (27–31 January). Koelsch then spent the next seven weeks in refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, broken up by a port visit to Kingston, Jamaica (14–15 February). Reports of a Soviet submarine tender off Bahia de Nipe, Cuba, resulted in another interruption in her slate of training on 10 March, when she received orders to proceed immediately to those waters. Koelsch relieved on station early on 11 March, and patrolled outside the harbor observing and reporting all shipping activities for the next 24 hours, when she was relieved and returned to Guantanamo Bay to complete her refresher training. The ship returned to Newport on 29 March.
Getting underway again on 26 April 1971 and returning to Newport on 11 May, Koelsch conducted special towed array sonar tests in Exuma Sounds in the Bahamas. The ship participated in two midshipmen training periods (17 June – 18 July and 29 August – 22 September) that involved underway periods of up to eight hours per day, three or four days per week. Participation in Squeeze Play exercises (19–31 July) broke up the midshipmen training periods. The ship later participated in LantCorTEx evaluations (23 September-6 October), type training (18–29 October), and combined Canadian-United States exercises (1–16 November).
Following an upkeep period and type training in local waters, Koelsch got underway from Newport on 10 March 1972 for a six-week operation with the Spanish and Portuguese navies off the Iberian Peninsula. After conducting ASW operations with the Spanish Navy, the ship put into Rota, Spain, on 30 March for a six-day port visit. Koelsch conducted ASW operations with the Portuguese Navy followed by a three-day visit to Porto, Portugal, and returned to Newport on 23 April. The ship got underway on 16 May for type training with other units of Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 24, but found it necessary to moor at the Norfolk Naval Base (18–22 May) to conduct engineering repairs before completing the training and returning to Newport on 25 May.
Koelsch departed her homeport on 14 June 1972 for her first extended deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, arriving at Rota, on 22 June. Underway later that day, the ship participated in task force operations until 6 July, interrupted by an anchorage at off Las Palmas (31 June – 1 July) and a medical evacuation at Naples (25–26 June). After a week of liberty at Palma de Mallorca, the ship conducted operations at sea (14–21 July) followed by an upkeep period at Naples. From there, Koelsch departed for the Aegean Sea to conduct carrier and ASW operations with port visits to Limnos, Greece (10–13 August) and Athens (21–26 August). Pausing at Palma on 2 September, the ship participated in a two-day NATO ASW operation prior to picking up a Navy Band at Barcelona to take part in a religious festival at Mahón, Menorca. Remaining at Mahón from 6 to 9 September, the ship then visited Rota on 12 September before returning to the Aegean to participate in a NATO amphibious exercise in the vicinity of Alexandroupoli, Greece. Koelsch then conducted boiler repairs at Athens (26–28 September). Rendezvousing with other ASW forces, she conducted two days of operations followed by a port visit to Sfax, Tunisia (2–5 October). Reaching Barcelona on 7 October, the ship spent the next two weeks in a leave and upkeep period. Koelsch then participated in carrier and aircraft operations in the Tyrrhenian Sea (21-30 October), and following a two-day visit to Naples, conducted "special operations" along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast. She then participated in her second National Week exercise concluding with a two-day anchorage at Souda Bay, Crete. Arriving at Livorno, Italy, on 23 November for a five-day holiday port visit, the ship stopped at Toulon, France (29 November – 5 December) before heading to Gibraltar for a turnover of operational orders. Coming under the command of the United States Second Fleet on 10 December, Koelsch departed Gibraltar and arrived back at Newport on 18 December.
Koelsch participated in Sharem XIV exercises in the western Atlantic Ocean for evaluation of sonar tactics (5–11 March 1973), then carried out type training with DesRon 24 (16–20 April) and with four French ships of the standing NATO force (3–9 June), followed by a stint of midshipman training (10–16 June and 23–29 June). The ship and crew celebrated the Fourth of July at Bristol, Rhode Island, having transported 75 local dignitaries as guests on 29 June, then remaining anchored off the port until 5 July. The ship's sailors participated in the Bristol parade, one of the oldest in the country, and were guests at picnics, dances, and cocktail parties. From 24 July to 19 August the ship operated in and out of Newport for Destroyer School training cruises. Koelsch departed Newport on 20 August and arrived at her new homeport of Naval Station Mayport, Florida on 26 August. During September, the ship's crew, with assistance from Naval Ordnance Systems Support Office Atlantic and Mobile Technical Unit 12, replaced both 5"/38 gun mounts with reconditioned ones from the Naval Ammunition Depot Crane, Indiana. The ship departed Mayport on 1 October for refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and on 18 and 19 October the ship qualified in naval gunfire support at Culebra Island. Returning to her homeport on 21 October, Koelsch spent the next two and a half weeks preparing for her second extended deployment, this time to the Indian Ocean.
Getting underway on 15 November 1973, Koelsch rendezvoused with at Roosevelt Roads on 18 November before they crossed the Atlantic Ocean in company and visited Dakar, Senegal (27–28 November) and Freetown, Sierra Leone (30 November – 5 December), hosting President Saika Stevens of Sierra Leone during the latter visit (4 December). The ship crossed Equator on 7 December, and Neptunus Rex initiated 178 members of her crew into the "Order of the Royal Shellbacks" during the ship's first Line-crossing ceremony. Refueling from British fleet oilers RFA Tidespring (A75) and RFA Tidereach (A96), Koelsch and Brumby joined and three days before Christmas in the Indian Ocean. All four ships refueled from before arriving at Port Louis, Mauritius on 24 December.