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USS Kirk

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USS Kirk (FF-1087)
USS Kirk
History
United States
NameUSS Kirk
NamesakeAlan Goodrich Kirk
OwnerUnited States: Leased to Taiwan
Ordered25 August 1966
BuilderAvondale Shipyard, Westwego, Louisiana
Laid down4 December 1970
Launched25 September 1971
Acquired27 August 1972
Commissioned9 September 1972
Decommissioned6 August 1993
Stricken11 January 1995
FateTransferred to Taiwan, as Fen Yang
Taiwan
NameFen Yang (Chinese: 汾陽)
NamesakeFenyang
Acquired
  • loaned 6 August 1993
  • purchased 29 September 1999
Commissioned6 August 1993
Identification934
General characteristics
Class and typeKnox-class frigate
Displacement3,221 tons (4,202 full load)
Length438 ft (134 m)
Beam46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Draught24 ft 9 in (7.54 m)
Propulsion
  • 2 × CE 1200psi boilers
  • 1 Westinghouse geared turbine
  • 1 shaft, 35,000 shp (26,000 kW)
Speedover 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Complement18 officers, 267 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems
  • AN/SPS-40 Air Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-10 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-67 Navigation Radar
  • AN/SQS-26 Sonar
  • AN/SQR-18 Towed array sonar system
  • Prairie/Masker System
  • Mk68 Gun Fire Control System
Electronic warfare
& decoys		AN/SLQ-32 Electronics Warfare System
Armament
Aircraft carried1 × SH-2 Seasprite (LAMPS I) helicopter

USS Kirk was a Knox-class destroyer escort, originally designated as DE-1087 and reclassified as a frigate, FF-1087 (1975), in the United States Navy. Her primary mission of anti-submarine warfare remained unchanged.

Named for Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk, her contract was awarded to Avondale Marine on 25 August 1966. Sponsored by Mrs. Lydia C. Kirk, Adm. Kirk’s wife, Kirk was laid down on 4 December 1970, launched on 25 September 1971 and commissioned on 9 September 1972 with Cmdr. James P. Kvederis as her plank owning commander.[1]

She is currently still in service with the Taiwanese navy as the ROCN Fen Yang (FFG-934).[1]

Service history

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In April 1975, Kirk participated in Operation "Eagle Pull" (the evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia), and Operation "Frequent Wind" (the evacuation of Saigon, South Vietnam).[2][3]

During the evacuation, the Kirk became a makeshift landing pad for a stream of fourteen helicopters flown by South Vietnamese airmen fleeing for their lives with their families and friends on board. Having only a small flight deck, Kirk had nowhere to store the helicopters, so the crew pushed all but three overboard into the South China Sea. Early on the morning of 30 April while on station, the crew of the Kirk rescued two Marine pilots after their AH-1J Cobra gunship crashed into the ocean near the ship. This was the last helicopter-gunship to be lost in Vietnam. The final refugees the Kirk received were literally tossed out of a hovering Boeing CH-47 Chinook that was too large to land on Kirk. Once the passengers were safely aboard, the pilot steered the craft about 50 yards (46 metres) aft of Kirk's stern, and jumped from the hovering helicopter[4]. The craft then crashed into the water over the submerged pilot. He successfully surfaced and, after rescue by Kirk sailors, joined his family on board the American frigate.[5][6]

As part of the U.S. fleet sent to facilitate the evacuation of Americans from South Vietnam, USS Kirk carried out one of the most significant humanitarian missions in U.S. military history. Commanded by CDR Paul H. (Jake) Jacobs and under the direction of a civilian, DAO liaison officer Richard Armitage, Kirk rescued the remainder of the South Vietnamese Navy, consisting of 32 ships, many former U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships, and some 30,000 Vietnamese refugees, leading and protecting the flotilla over 1,000 miles from Vietnamese waters to U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines. From there, most of the refugees ultimately emigrated to the United States.[7][8]

Namesake

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USS Kirk was the first U.S. Navy vessel named for Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk, (30 October 1888-15 October 1963). Born to William and Harriet [Goodrich] Kirk in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Alan graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy on 4 June 1909. Kirk was an ordnance expert during World War I, Director of Naval Intelligence in 1941, AND served as Chief of Staff to Admiral Harold R. Stark at the outbreak of World War II. Kirk assumed command of the Atlantic Amphibious Force in February 1943 and the Naval Task Force overseeing the American portion of the combined invasion force of Normandy in In October 1943.[1]

After the war, he served as Ambassador to Belgium (1946-1949), Ambassador to the Soviet Union (1949-1951), and Ambassador to Nationalist China in Taiwan (appointed 3 May 1962), but resigned a month later due to ill health. Adm Kirk's wife, Lydia C. Kirk, sponsored the commissioning of USS Kirk.[1]

Legacy

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At least 5 late-term expectant mothers were part of the Frequent Wind evacuation. One mother, Nguyen Thi Tuong-Lan Tran, gave birth to a daughter a couple weeks later at the refugee camp in Guam. The daughter was named Tran Nguyen Kirk Giang Tien in appreciation of the care given by Jake and the Kirk crew.[9]

Capt Paul Jacobs (3rd from left), joins his crew to push a Huey off Kirk's deck. This image has been reproduced in the El Dorado and Westminster memorials

In 2010, under the direction of VADM Adam Robinson, then Surgeon General of the U.S. Navy, the Navy Medical Education and Training Command created a documentary entitled The Lucky Few: The Story of USS Kirk, Providing Humanitarian & Medical Care at Sea. It has since been translated into Vietnamese.[10]

On 27 July 2021, the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors in California, where Jake lived out the last years of his life, honored Jake with a bronze plaque at the El Dorado County Veterans Monument in recognition of his heroism and leadership in Vietnam. The plaque depicts Capt Paul Jacobs and the crew of USS Kirk pushing a helicopter off the deck.[11]

The city of Westminster, California dedicated a similar plaque at the Sid Goldstein Freedom Park on 2 July 2023, in honor of Capt Paul Jacobs and the crew of the USS Kirk for saving the lives of some 30,000 Vietnamese refugees.[12][13]

Decommissioning and Taiwanese service

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ROCN Fen Yang FFG-934 head in Keelung 20190324

She served in the U.S. Navy up until 6 August 1993, when the ship was decommissioned and leased to the Republic of China Navy in Taiwan. In Taiwanese service, she was renamed Fen Yang (Chinese: 汾陽) with the hull number changed to 934. On 29 September 1999, the ship was finally purchased by Taiwan.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Nasuti, Guy J. (22 November 2019). "USS Kirk (DE/FF-1087) 1972–1993". Naval History and Heritage Command. U.S. Navy.
  2. ^ By Sea, Air and Land: An Illustrated History of the U.S. Navy and the war in Southeast Asia Chapter 5: The Final Curtain, 1973–1975
  3. ^ Williams, Jonathan (29 August 2023). "Dick McKenna: USS KIRK and the Fall of Saigon". Scuttlebutt S02 E13. Battleship USS IOWA Museum.
  4. ^ Winduss, Stephen (29 April 2025). "The Last Flight Out". BattingtheBreeze.com.
  5. ^ Kennedy, Rory (Producer Director) (2015). Last Days in Vietnam. American Experience. WGBH Educational Foundation.
  6. ^ Blake, John (29 April 2015). "A father goes 'badass' to save his family". CNN.
  7. ^ At War's End, U.S. Ship Rescued South Vietnam's Navy
  8. ^ Caiella, J. M. (August 2021). "'Greatest Humanitarian Mission'". Naval History Magazine. U.S. Naval Institute.
  9. ^ Stillwell, Paul (July 2012). "The End of a Nation". Naval History Magazine. U.S. Naval Institute.
  10. ^ Herman, Jan. "The Lucky Few: The Story of USS Kirk, Providing Humanitarian & Medical Care at Sea". Internet Archive. U.S. Navy. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.
  11. ^ Jaramishian, Eric (30 July 2021). "Navy captain's plaque goes up". Mountain Democrat.
  12. ^ Tortolano, Jim (28 April 2023). "A tardy thanks to Capt. Jacobs". Orange County Tribune.
  13. ^ Johnson, Vanessa (26 April 2023). "Consideration of a Request to Install a Plaque at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park". Westminster City Council.
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