Builder:        Bath Iron Works
Laid down:      May 8, 1944
Launched:       September 17 1944
Commissioned:   December 11 1944
Reclassified:   DDR  03/18/49; reverted "DD" 01/01/69
Decommissioned: 01/71
Fate:           To Greece; sunk as target 9/11/01

We are seeking information on the USS Frank Knox and her crews. Files may be e-mailed to us and we will incorporate them into these pages.

Hi,

It’s amazing what will pop up in Google. After chatting with an old navy salt about WWII I casually type in Frank Knox DDR 742 in Google and was directed to your site. It brought back many memories of a long time ago. Reported aboard the USS Frank Knox DDR 742 on Christmas day 1962 and was discharged off the ship in Yokosuka, Japan in 1966 and spent the next few years roving around the Far East.

I was also one of the odd 60 – 70 sailors who were part of the salvage crew after we hit Pratus Reef in the South China Seas and I can still remember the P500s catching fire and burning the hair off my legs as they pumped non stop. Memories of off loading fuel, hedgehogs and ammo onto the barge that side tied to the ship and then tying down cargo nets on the hedge hogs during a rather nasty squall that popped up because the hedge hogs were dropping off the side of the barge and getting pinched between the ship every time the barge swung in and out on a swell. There were a few prayers said that day.

Some other memories were:
Just after the ship first hit the reef a couple of seaman caught hell from the Captain for drop line fishing off the bow.
Rivets popping like gun shots when the tide turned and the bow stayed put on the reef and the stern started to sink.
The huge hole that demolition team blew in the hull because of the 50lbs. of C3 was too close. Bent the focsle 3 degrees left and 2 degrees up.
One of the 5” beaching gear lines snapped and caught one of the salvagers behind the legs and completely flipped him in the air.

Very lucky, only a broken leg. Shark patrol in the captains gig so that divers could observe the bottom of the ship with out being shark lunch.

I could go on and on. Time and Newsweek did a story on the grounding and both magazines were full of errors. It was almost comical as each magazine was almost opposite in their report. My brother who went through OCS years later told me they studied the grounding in class.

My time on the Frank Knox DDR 742 was quite an adventure and I still flash back to those memories of my youth from counter battery in Vietnam, R&R in Japan, Hong Kong, General Quarters through the Malaccan straits, and visits to Africa, Australia, Singapore, Philippines, and many more. It was an experience that I will never forget.

Thank you for bringing back those memories.

Sincerely,

KC Troise FTG3
1962 - 1966

Subject: DDR 742 Frank Knox
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998
From: Patsy Rampolla
To: Destroyers Online

Mark,

Thank you so much for the website on the Frank Knox DDR 742. It was terrific of you to research this. The picture is great and she looks just like I remember her in the '50's. I have loads of pictures somewhere, but after 45 years or so, it's hard to remember where they might be stored today! I have bookmarked the site and will access from time to time to see if anyone from the time-frame I am looking for might post a message. If I get to reece, I will look her up!

Thanks again for your time.

Patsy Rampolla,

From: BYThompson@webtv.net (BY Thompson)
Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 21:40:53 -0400
Subject: U.S.S. FRANK KNOX DDR-742

Richard,
Great to see a photo of the Frank Knox on the Net..You and the others have done a remarkable job , I can`t imagine how many hours you have put into it.. I wanted to ask if you could post the following info regarding the reunion association:

U.S.S. FRANK KNOX (DD/DDR-742)
Reunion Association
Bob O`Kon - President
20 Washington Square
Doylestown, Pennsylvania 18901
Tel; 215 345 7571

Bob O`kon does not have access to the internet, so I have included his phone if you need to varify the above information. The Association meets each year in October, and has over 200 members . I`m new to the internet and I don`t have access to a computer..I access the internet via WebTV, so any info I send to you would have to go by E Mail or snail mail... I was stationed on the Knox from Dec.65 -May 67. Is there any specific info you can use to Post ?

Again, many thanks for your efforts

Bruce Y. Thompson

My son ran across your web site and brought it to my attention.

Ater the Knox went through fram, I'm not sure what year that was, she was a DDR (destroyer radar picket ship.) I got orders for her in the last part of 63' and she was a DDR then.

After seeing a picture of her it brought back memories of a good ship and some shipmates I haven't thought of in over thirty years.

I was on the USS Frank Knox DDR-742 when she ran aground on Pratis Reef in 64' or 65', long time ago can't remember the year. Around 02:00 Pratis Reef opened her up like a tin can of sardines, I belive that was the same year she recived 'Ship Of The Year' award.

We were heading to Hong Kong for R & R from Yankee Station on the coast of Vietnam.
After four months on the reef they finaly floated her off by filling her with foam.
She was toed to Youska, Japan, where she was repaired, which took a couple of years and the cost was in the millions.

After she was repaired she was sold to the Greek Navy for two hundred fifty thousand dollars.

Try to figure this out...

Thanks for the memories.
Harry Abbott
oscardem@ix.netcom.net