USS Moinester

USS Moinester (FF-1097) was a Knox-class frigate. The ship was named for LTJG Robert W. Moinester who was killed in action during the Battle of Huế on 31 January 1968 and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. Moinester was christened by Mrs. Gertrude Mahoney Moinester, the mother of the ship's namesake and ship sponsor.



Design and description
The Knox-class design was derived from the Brooke-class frigate modified to extend range and without a long-range missile system. The ships had an overall length of 438 ft, a beam of 47 ft and a draft of 25 ft. They displaced 4066 LT at full load. Their crew consisted of 13 officers and 211 enlisted men.

The ships were equipped with one Westinghouse geared steam turbine that drove the single propeller shaft. The turbine was designed to produce 35000 shp, using steam provided by 2 C-E boilers, to reach the designed speed of 27 kn. The Knox class had a range of 4500 nmi at a speed of 20 kn.

The Knox-class ships were armed with a 5"/54 caliber Mark 42 gun forward and a single 3-inch/50-caliber gun aft. They mounted an eight-round RUR-5 ASROC launcher between the 5 in gun and the bridge. Close-range anti-submarine defense was provided by two twin 12.75 in Mk 32 torpedo tubes. The ships were equipped with a torpedo-carrying DASH drone helicopter; its telescoping hangar and landing pad were positioned amidships aft of the MACK. Beginning in the 1970s, the DASH was replaced by a SH-2 Seasprite LAMPS I helicopter and the hangar and landing deck were accordingly enlarged. Most ships also had the 3 in gun replaced by an eight-cell BPDMS missile launcher in the early 1970s.

Construction and career
Moinester was decommissioned and sold to the Egyptian Navy and became the Egyptian frigate Rasheed (F966).