USS Voge

USS Voge (FF-1047), a Garcia-class frigate of the United States Navy, was named after Rear Admiral Richard George Voge. It fulfilled a Protection of Shipping (POS) mission as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combatants for amphibious expeditionary forces, underway replenishment groups and merchant convoys. It made notable contributions to submarine 'hold-down' tactics with sister ship Koelsch. In 1976, Soviet Echo II-class submarine K-22 collided with the Voge.

Voge was laid down on 21 November 1963 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company in Bay City, Michigan. She was launched on 4 February 1965, sponsored by Mrs. Alice Voge Oetting, widow of Rear Admiral Voge; and commissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard on 25 November 1966. She remained at the Boston Naval Shipyard until 11 April 1967, completing her outfitting. On that day, she stood out of Boston, bound for her home port, Newport, Rhode Island, whence she operated until mid-May. On 15 May, she departed Newport for her shakedown cruise, which lasted until 24 June, and during which she operated out of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The ocean escort returned to Newport on 24 June and conducted local operations from there through the end of July. On 1 August, she re-entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for her post-shakedown availability. That yard period occupied her for the remainder of 1967 and during the first two months of 1968.

In March 1968, she rejoined Escort Squadron (CortRon) 6 at Newport, and began duty supporting the development and testing of sophisticated anti-submarine warfare tactics and related equipment. Her operations out of Newport continued through the end of 1968.

In February 1969, she began preparations for a brief cruise to northern Europe to participate in a NATO exercise. She departed Newport on 1 April, and made her first port call at Lisbon, Portugal, later that month, after conducting hunter/killer ASW exercises with ships of the Spanish and Portuguese navies. From Portugal, she moved to Spithead, England, for a Royal Review of the NATO Fleet in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the treaty organization. In late May and early June, she made port visits to Cherbourg, France; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Bremen, Germany; conducting further hunter/killer exercises when at sea between ports.

From Bremen, Voge headed back to Newport, and, en route home, encountered a submarine contact later confirmed as a Soviet Yankee-class submarine. Voge successfully applied hold-down tactics on the Soviet submarine, and later received the Meritorious Unit Commendation for her efforts. Upon completing the usual post-cruise leave and repair period, the ocean escort resumed her duties out of Newport, practicing and testing ASW tactics and testing newly developed ASW equipment. Such a routine occupied her until August 1970 when she entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for her first regular overhaul.

Voge completed her yard period late in January and spent February completing post-overhaul sea trials. After gunnery exercises in the Virginia Capes operating area early in March, she got underway on 12 March 1971 for her refresher training cruise to the Guantanamo Bay operating area. Voge returned to Newport on 10 May, and after a tender availability, resumed operations in the Narragansett Bay area. She continued that routine until the following spring when she crossed the Atlantic for bilateral United States-Spanish ASW exercises and another with ships of the Portuguese Navy. Voge returned home through very heavy weather and reentered Newport on 24 April 1972.

The ocean escort immediately began preparations for her first deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. On 13 June, the warship began her voyage to Rota, Spain, where she arrived on the 22nd. During the ensuing six months, Voge joined other ships of the 6th Fleet in a series of unilateral and bilateral exercises and made port visits throughout the Mediterranean. Of special interest were her visit to the Turkish Naval War College on Heybeliada Island in the Sea of Marmara in early August, and her participation in the multinational NATO Exercise "Deep Furrow" late in September. In early November, she was assigned special duty shadowing Soviet submarines reporting to and leaving the Mediterranean.

On one occasion, she followed a departing Soviet submarine some 300 miles into the Atlantic before breaking contact and returning to the Mediterranean. On 10 December, she completed turnover to her relief USS Du Pont, and set course for Newport where she arrived on 18 December.