Originally Posted by
Lonewolf_50
I don't think the refining capacity exists, since the gulf nations also sell refined products, not just crude. However I am not an oil industry expert so I'll leave it at that.
That's FFG-7 class. Last I checked, the USN stopped operating them, but a number were offered up to foreign navies.
A Fig Seven.
The Simpson was decomissioned in 2015 (the last of the Perry Class the USN operated).
Aviation wise, they were built from the get to to have two SH-60B Seahawks on them...
FWIW, there was some talk about bringing them back, but ...
Having operated from a few of them, I'll say that their expiry date was reached and they needed to be replaced by a good frigate.
What we got instead was the LCS, which is
...and to date has had little effectiveness.
Lose-Lose.
Woofy, you are being rather kind to the LCS program. The Freedom Class was appalling, and only looked good against its sibling the Independence which at least had the decency to commence its own disassembly, usually while under steam. Compared to the LCS debacle, the Oliver Hazard Perry was a paragon of design excellence. Made a pretty fair basis for coast guard cutters...