USS Francis Hammond
1968 Knox-class frigate

USS Francis Hammond (DE/FF-1067) is the sixteenth Knox-class frigate, named in honor of Hospitalman Francis Colton Hammond, a Medal of Honor recipient.
Construction
She was originally designed as a Knox-class ocean escort (DE-1067), and was built by Todd Shipyards, Los Angeles Division, San Pedro, California. The ship's keel was laid on 15 July 1967. She was launched on 11 May 1968; sponsored by Mrs. Phyllis Hammond Smith (widow of Hospitalman Hammond). The ship was commissioned at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Long Beach, California on 25 July 1970.
Design and description
The Knox-class design was derived from the Brooke-class frigate modified to extend range and without a long-range missile system. The ships had an overall length of 438 feet (133.5 m), a beam of 47 feet (14.3 m) and a draft of 25 feet (7.6 m). They displaced 4,066 long tons (4,131 t) at full load. Their crew consisted of 13 officers and 211 enlisted men.
The public source identifies “USS Francis Hammond” as 1968 Knox-class frigate. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Francis, Hammond and Knox-class.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7869475. The first chronological checks are 1067, 1967, 1968 and 1970.
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This entry incorporates text from “USS Francis Hammond” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.