Frigates fulfill a Protection of Shipping (POS) mission as
anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combatants for
amphibious expeditionary forces, underway replenishment groups and merchant
convoys. The
Garcia class was a larger version of the . The
Garcias were accompanied by the similar
Brooke class, which replaced the aft gun with a
Mark 22 missile launcher. The
Bronstein ocean escort was a response to the development of high speed nuclear
submarines in the late 1950s, but their speed was insufficient to keep pace with
anti-submarine warfare (ASW) groups and their gun (naval
artillery) power was poor for general patrol tasks. The
Garcia class rectified these issues by becoming the first ships of their type in the US Navy to use pressure fired boilers, which allowed them to generate much more power than the
Bronsteins without an increase in size or weight of machinery. The gun armament was increased in the
Garcia class to two
Mk.30 5 inch/38 caliber guns. The ASW weapon system consisted of the SQS-26BX
sonar, Mk.112
ASROC rocket launcher,
QH-50 DASH armed drones, and
Mk.32 torpedo tubes and was further reinforced with the addition of a pair of Mk.25 torpedo tubes for firing the much longer ranged
Mark 37 torpedo. There were two distinct breeds of ships bearing the DE hull classification, the
World War II destroyer escorts (some of which were converted to DERs) and the postwar DE/DEG classes, which were known as
ocean escorts despite carrying the same type symbol as the World War II destroyer escorts. All DEs, DEGs, and DERs were reclassified as FFs, FFGs, or FFRs on 30 June 1975 by the
United States Navy 1975 ship reclassification. After decommissioning, , , , and were transferred to the Brazilian Navy, as
Pernambuco (D 30),
Paraíba (D 28),
Paraná (D 29), and
Pará (D 27), respectively.
Pará (D 27) remained in reserve till 2015, but appears to have been scrapped since. was a
Garcia-class frigate modified for research use, commissioned as AGDE-1 in 1965, redesignated AGFF-1 in 1975, and redesignated FF-1098 in 1979. ==Ships==