Perry frigate - Insane Detail question No. 3

The hose reel on the left which you mention - is it the black structure on the transom edge to the left of the S in Stark?

The rectangilar openings on the right of the transom are part of the towed sonar array handling system

No, on the McInerney, and several others, it is on the hull (the stern) and looks to be several feet across with a large hole in the center.

I thought the openings on the right might be for the towed array, but wanted to be sure.

There are two hull forms in the Perry class. Long hull and short hull. USS McInerney (FFG-8) is a long hull version. The Stark (FFG-31) was a short hull. Ships ordered in and after FY79 were long hull. USS McInerney was built as a short hull but was rebuilt as a long hull prototype.

The long hull verions have an extension past the filght deck on the stern.

The thing you see on the stern is a towed sonar array. The Perry will lay the sonar cable out into the water to listen for submarines. The length allows the sonar to listen away from the ships engine and at multiple locations.

My research did find out about the McInerney's "growth spurt" and thankfully the Dragon kit includes the extension ... or I HOPE that's what that part was, because it's on there now. Here is a pic of what I am asking about, the circular attachment on the port side of the stern:

the hose reel you speak of may very well be an AFFF (aqueous film forming foam) hose reel. AFFF is a fire fighting agent that smothers out petroleum fires without the dangerous after effects that water had. its also nicknamed light water because it will float on top of oil. the 2 rectangular openings are typically for the SLQ-25 nixie which is a towed torpedo decoy. the round opening on the back in the pic of the doyle is used for the towed sonar array.

MM3 (SW/AW) Robert Beard, USN

Thanks, navynuke85! I didn't necessarily need to know what these doo-dads were for the model, but it's nice to know what they are so if the person I'm building it for asks, I don't have to go, "Ummmmmmmm ..."

no problem

The rectangular openings are for NIXIE decoys, the single round is for a towed sonar array.

Kurt