Last mission for storied class of warships

“I am honored and humbled to have this opportunity to lead such a capable and proud group of sailors on this, the final deployment of an FFG-7 class ship, and to be the last in a great line of frigate commanding officers,” the Kauffman’s skipper, Cmdr. Michael Concannon, said in a Navy statement.

The final mission for the Kauffman and its crew of 250 will be to combat drug trafficking in the U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility, the waters of the Caribbean and off the coasts of Central and South America.

“Somehow, in the 21st century, we started naming ships with strange acronyms … instead of from our naval traditions … so we are going to change the hull designation of the ‪#‎LCS‬‬ class ships to FF (frigate) … appropriate and traditional name,” Mabus said in a speech to the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium.

Those newly designated frigates will join the world’s oldest active warship in the U.S. Navy’s frigate fleet, the USS Constitution. Nicknamed “Old Ironsides,” the Navy’s historic tall-masted showpiece was commissioned in 1797 and sails from Boston Harbor to promote the service.

CNN