Passing the Torch – The Knox-class fast frigate USS Richard E. Peary (FF 1073), right, and the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Wadsworth (FFG 9)pass one another at the entrance to the channel as the latter arrives for a visit to Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii., 6/1/1991

The Knox-class fast frigate USS Richard E. Peary (FF 1073), right, and the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate USS Wadsworth (FFG 9)pass one another at the entrance to the channel as the latter arrives for a visit to Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii., 6/1/1991

The ASW-centric steam-powered Knoxes, a 46-strong class, were in service with the Navy from 1969, and gave 25 years of hard service, with the final member of the breed, USS Moinester (FF-1097), decommissioned 28 July 1994 and transferred to Egypt soon after. The 51 more general-purpose OHPs began arriving in 1977 with the final unit, USS Kauffman (FFG-59), decommissioned 8 September 2015, leaving an unfilled “frigate gap” in the U.S. Navy for the first time since WWII.