Everett’s final frigate pulls into port Friday

EVERETT — Naval Station Everett’s final frigate is coming home Friday to be sold.

The USS Rodney M. Davis and its roughly 200 sailors were to return Friday after six months patrolling the Pacific and Indian oceans.

Fourteen crewmen will meet newborns when they arrive, said Kristin Ching, spokeswoman for Naval Station Everett. It was expected to arrive at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

The U.S. Navy plans to decommission the 27-year-old ship early in March and sell it to a foreign government.

To get the ship ready to be decommissioned, crew members will remove supplies and equipment that can either be re-used or are too sensitive to export, she said. “When she departs from Everett” in the spring, “it’ll basically be bare bones.”

When it leaves, it will be the last to go of the three Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates formerly stationed here.

The USS Ford was decommissioned in 2013. The USS Ingraham was decommissioned last month, and it is still in port, where sailors are gutting it. The Ingraham is scheduled Jan. 30 to be towed from Everett to Naval Station Kitsap in Bremerton, where it will be scrapped.

After the frigates are gone, Naval Station Everett will still be homeport to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers — the USS Shoup and USS Momsen — and two Coast Guard cutters. Naval Station Everett will have about 6,000 men and women assigned here, Ching said.

In 2012, the Navy said it plans to move three more destroyers here. No update was immediately available.

The Navy plans to decommission all remaining Perry-class frigates by Oct. 30, the end of the fiscal year. The 1970s-era frigates are being replaced by new, smaller littoral combat ships, which have been plagued by cost overruns during development. An amphibious assault ship, two submarines and the USNS Rainier, a support vessel stationed in Bremerton, are also being decommissioned.

The Navy had previously planned to keep the Davis operating until 2016 and the Ingraham until 2019. But budget cuts prompted the Navy to get rid of the ships sooner.

During the Davis’ final deployment, the ship took part in the largest international maritime warfare exercise, Rim of the Pacific — or RIMPAC — 2014. The exercise involved 48 ships from 22 countries.

The ship logged more than 37,000 nautical miles and visited ports in Japan, Singapore, the Maldives, Thailand, Indonesia and Brunei.

The frigate is named for Marine Corps Sgt. Rodney Maxwell Davis, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Vietnam. It was built by Todd Pacific Shipyards in San Pedro, California, and commissioned on May 9, 1987.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Lynnwood
Crash in Lynnwood blocks Highway 99 south

The crash, on Highway 99 at 176th Street SW, fully blocked southbound lanes. Traffic was diverted to 168th Street SW.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Search underway to find missing Everett child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday morning at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.