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The Knox Class of frigates resulted from congressional opposition to mounting costs of the Brooke FFG Class Missile Frigate after only six Brooke Class ships were built. Accordingly the mission of the Knox Class was altered to ASW Escort from that of a general escort.

The original designation of the Knox Class was "Destroyer Escort" (DE) and this was changed in June of 1975 to "Frigate" (FF) but the hulls retained their original numbers. The Knox Class has the distinction of being the last destroyer type ships built for the US Navy which were equipped with boiler and steam propulsion.

In modern military terminology, a frigate is a warship fulfilling a Protection of Shipping (POS) mission by protecting other warships and merchant ships thru anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and works with amphibious expeditionary forces, underway replenishment groups and merchant convoys.

The US Navy adopted the classification “frigate” (FF) for ships used for open-ocean escort and patrol. When they were developed during World War II, frigates were first classified as destroyer escorts (DEs).

Frigates resemble destroyers in appearance; but they are slower, have only a single screw, and carry less armament. FFs have grown in size from about 1,500 tons displacement to over 4,000 tons, as in the Knox Class. Their armament varies from class to class.

Historically the frigate was a ship of the 4th or 5th rate. The role they filled was that of independent patrol, or fleet picket work. Later in time the former task fell to cruisers and the latter task to destroyers. The term has come back into fashion in modern navies.

FF-1052 USS Knox

Laid down by Todd Shipbuilding in Seattle on October 5th, 1965, DE-1052 USS Knox was launched November 19th, 1966 and commissioned April 12th, 1969. She was re-classified as Frigate (FF-1052) on June 30th, 1975. Decommissioned February 14th, 1992, the ship was stricken January 11th, 1995. August 7th 2007, Knox was used as a target and sunk in 6700 feet of water off the coast of Guam. The USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and her battle group participated in the sinking. It took an undisclosed combination of air launched Mavericks, GBU-12's, and GBU-16's to take her down.