Refuelling USS McCloy
With the light rapidly fading at the end of a sunny Mediterranean day, USS McCloy (FF-1038), the second and final Bronstein-class frigate, is beginning an UNREP in the Mediterranean in the summer of 1982. The crew are heaving in the line that will eventually pull across a hose for connection to the fuel receptor mounted at the rear of the helipad, aft of the heavy jackstay being used for hauling the hose across.
Aft of all that activity, on the quarterdeck, is an early towed-array sonar in operation. It is probably the AN/SQR-15 Passive Anti-Submarine Towed Array Sonar Surveillance System (TASS). The ship was tracking a Soviet submarine at the time of the evolution seen above, so unusually, we approached alongside her, rather than the more normal process of the recipient approaching us. This was to ensure that they array remained as stable as possible so as not to distort the picture being obtained. Apparently the ship's efforts were successful as McCloy received a Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC) for unsurpassed ASW accomplishments from 8 June to 22 December 1982 during this deployment.
Named after one of only 19 men to win two Medals of Honor (in China and Mexico!), the McCloy was originally commissioned in 1963 as a destroyer escort and redesignated as a frigate in 1975. She was decommissioned from the US Navy in December 1990 and sold to the Mexican Navy in 1993 where she became the ARM Nicolás Bravo (F201), remaining in service until 2017.
I took the image from the signal deck of the USS Mount Baker (AE-34), an ammunition ship in the US Sixth Fleet at the time, which I was aboard for the summer.
Scanned from a slide.
Refuelling USS McCloy
With the light rapidly fading at the end of a sunny Mediterranean day, USS McCloy (FF-1038), the second and final Bronstein-class frigate, is beginning an UNREP in the Mediterranean in the summer of 1982. The crew are heaving in the line that will eventually pull across a hose for connection to the fuel receptor mounted at the rear of the helipad, aft of the heavy jackstay being used for hauling the hose across.
Aft of all that activity, on the quarterdeck, is an early towed-array sonar in operation. It is probably the AN/SQR-15 Passive Anti-Submarine Towed Array Sonar Surveillance System (TASS). The ship was tracking a Soviet submarine at the time of the evolution seen above, so unusually, we approached alongside her, rather than the more normal process of the recipient approaching us. This was to ensure that they array remained as stable as possible so as not to distort the picture being obtained. Apparently the ship's efforts were successful as McCloy received a Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC) for unsurpassed ASW accomplishments from 8 June to 22 December 1982 during this deployment.
Named after one of only 19 men to win two Medals of Honor (in China and Mexico!), the McCloy was originally commissioned in 1963 as a destroyer escort and redesignated as a frigate in 1975. She was decommissioned from the US Navy in December 1990 and sold to the Mexican Navy in 1993 where she became the ARM Nicolás Bravo (F201), remaining in service until 2017.
I took the image from the signal deck of the USS Mount Baker (AE-34), an ammunition ship in the US Sixth Fleet at the time, which I was aboard for the summer.
Scanned from a slide.