USS Koelsch

USS Koelsch (FF-1049) was a Garcia-class frigate in service with the United States Navy from 1968 to 1989. She was then leased to Pakistan where she served as Siqqat (F-267) until 1994. The frigate was subsequently scrapped.

Koelsch (DE-1049) was laid down as a destroyer escort on 19 February 1964 at Bay City, Michigan, by Defoe Shipbuilding Company and launched on 8 June 1965, sponsored by Miss Virginia L. Koelsch, niece of the late Lt. (j.g.) Koelsch. the ship conducted builders' trials on Lake Huron on 14–15 April 1967 and departed Bay City on 11 May 1967. She transited the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, and was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, USA, on 10 June 1967.

With Newport, Rhode Island, designated as her home port, Koelsch spent the rest of 1967 at Boston, Massachusetts, much of it in drydock, fitting-out, workmen covering the teardrop-shaped sonar dome with an experimental rubber coating; installing the Antisubmarine Warfare Ship Command and Control System (ASWC&CS); replacing eight superheater tube stubs on 1A boiler; and removing the Drone Antisubmarine Helicopter (DASH) equipment in preparation for the ship's receiving a manned helicopter capability.

Koelsch deployed on a Northern European-Mediterranean cruise, departing from Naval Station Newport on 20 August 1968 and returning on 19 December. During the deployment, she visited Southampton(United Kingdom|(UK)]] (3-9 September); Stavanger, Norway (11-16 September); Hamburg, Germany (1-7 October); Lisbon, Portugal (21-24 October); Naples, Italy (1-7 November); Barcelona, Spain (2-7 December); and Gibraltar (9-11 December).

From 14 January to 22 March 1969, Koelsch remained at Boston undergoing post-shakedown availability (PSA). On 1 April, she departed her home port for the Virginia Capes to conduct individual exercises and type training. On 1 May, Koelsch again departed Newport, refueling in the Azores, to join the antisubmarine warfare carrier USS Wasp's task group operating in the eastern Atlantic. All ships of the force anchored off Spithead, between Portsmouth (UK) and the Isle of Wright, on 14 May to be reviewed two days later by Queen Elizabeth II from the royal yacht HMY Britannia. After a five-day visit at Cherbourg, France, the destroyer escort rejoined Wasp on 22 May to conduct Hunter-Killer Group (HuKGru) operations and to evaluate the installed Antisubmarine Warfare Tactical Data System (ASWTDS) west of Ireland. Koelsch continued those operations until departing for Newport on 5 July, interrupted by port visits to Oslo, Norway (4-7 June) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (23-30 June). The ship returned to Newport on 11 July, entering an upkeep period soon thereafter. She participated in operations Squeeze Play I (15-24 October) and Squeeze Play II (1-12 December), conducting ASW exercises off United States East Coast.

Koelsch departed Newport on 5 February 1970 to participate in Squeeze Play III in the western Atlantic. She then conducted experimental ASW exercises and visited Bermuda twice (14–16 February and 22–23 February), before returning home on 2 March. On 13 April, she got underway for two weeks of independent exercises off the Virginia Capes punctuated by a liberty weekend at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia (USA), which commenced on 17 April. The ship participated in Squeeze Play IV (18–28 May) and Squeeze Play V (8–21 June) off the east coast of the United States. Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Atlantic (ComCruDesLant) awarded Koelsch the Rhode Island Navy League's Anti Submarine Warfare Trophy for her performance in the Squeeze Play evaluations, marking her as the outstanding ASW ship in the Atlantic Fleet.

Koelsch and her crew attended the Maine Lobster Festival at Rockland, Maine (31 July – 3 August 1970) before acting on special orders during her return voyage to Newport, searching for and apprehending three enlisted people allegedly deserting to Canada in a pleasure craft, and turning them over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at Newport. The crew prepared their ship for a regular overhaul period by offloading ammunition at the Naval Weapons Station Earle, New Jersey, on 10 August and beginning a tender availability at Newport (21 August – 14 September). Koelsch remained at Boston Naval Shipyard for overhaul from 15 September to 21 December, a yard period broken by sea trials on 9 and 10 December.

The ship loaded ammunition at Naval Weapons Station Earle (18–19 January 1971) in preparation for refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She visited Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, for Weapons System Acceptance Trials (WSAT) (23–26 January) and Saint Croix (27–31 January). Koelsch then spent the next seven weeks in refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, broken up by a port visit to Kingston, Jamaica (14–15 February). Reports of a Soviet submarine tender off Bahia de Nipe, Cuba, resulted in another interruption in her slate of training on 10 March, when she received orders to proceed immediately to those waters. Koelsch relieved USS Thomas J. Gary on station early on 11 March, and patrolled outside the harbor observing and reporting all shipping activities for the next 24 hours, when she was relieved and returned to Guantanamo Bay to complete her refresher training. The ship returned to Newport on 29 March.