USS Hawes (FFG-53) is a later model guided missile frigate. She is named for Rear admiral Richard E. Hawes (1894 - 1968) who was twice decorated with the Navy Cross for submarine salvage operations.
The contract to build Hawes was awarded to Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, 22 May 1981, and her keel was laid 26 August 1983. She was launched 18 February 1984; sponsored by Mrs. Ruth H. Watson, widow of the late Rear Adm. Hawes; delivered 1 February 1985, and commissioned 9 February 1985.[1]
On 12 October 2000, Hawes was involved, along with, in providing repair and logistics support to, shortly after she was attacked in Aden, Yemen. Two al-Qaeda terrorists brought an inflatable Zodiac-type speedboat that carried a bomb alongside guided missile destroyer Cole, while the ship refueled, and detonated their lethal cargo, killing 17 sailors and wounding 42 more. The crewmember's heroic damage control efforts saved Cole. Hawes, Cmdr. J. Scott Jones in command, joined (13 October – October) other ships that took part in Operation Determined Response to assist Cole including: amphibious assault ship ; dock landing ship ; amphibious transport dock ; guided missile destroyer Donald Cook; and the Military Sealift Command-operated tug ; along with British frigates and . The Navy subsequently enhanced global force protection training during crucial transits, and sailors qualified to fire M60 and Browning .50 caliber M2 machine guns to defend against assaults by low-slow flying aircraft and small boats.
Hawes, with Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (Light) HSL-48 Detachment 10 embarked, returned from a counter-narcotics deployment to the Caribbean and Western Atlantic to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 October 2009. The ship's operations resulted in the seizure of 200 barrels of cocaine.
In July 2010, Hawes docked for five days at Pier 4 of the Charlestown Navy Yard, participating in a Navy Week coordinated alongside Boston's Harborfest.[2]
Hawes, operating with Destroyer Squadron 26 out of Norfolk, was decommissioned on 10 December 2010. She is moored, pending disposal, at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NavSea) Inactive Ships On-Site Maintenance Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.