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Prototypes for a second generation of post-World War II escort designed for the US Navy were Bronstein and McCloy. Evolved from the Dealey concept, they featured a hull 57 feet longer, the smallest that could accommodate the giant new SQS-26 bow-mounted sonar. They
were also the first class to carry a combined mast and stack—a “mack”—built to accommodate the ponderous SPS-10 and SPS-40 search radars. A twin enclosed 3-inch/50 was fitted forward and a single mount aft for a total of three barrels, reduced from the Dealeys four in favor of a flight deck aft for an unmanned DASH helicopter. The two ships were also the first built with an 8-tube ASROC launcher forward.
Authorized in FY 1960, the Bronsteins were laid down at New Orleans’ Avondale Shipyards in 1961, launched in 1962, commissioned in 1963 as DEs 1037 and 1038, redesignated frigates (FF) in 1975, decommissioned in 1990, stricken in 1991 and  sold to Mexico in 1993. While they carried over the Dealeys’ 600 psi engineering plant, their new hull form—visually much different with a “hurricane bow” and extended forecastle but imperceptible sheer—made them faster. Nearly comparable in length and tonnage to late-World War II destroyers, they still developed only 1/3 as much horsepower, however, leaving them too slow to operate with contemporary task forces while the added topweight and sonar made them bow-heavy and extremely lively. Accordingly, they were not repeated: follow-on production appeared as the larger, faster and more stable Garcia class.
SPECIFICATIONS
Length: 372' overall; 350' waterline.
Beam: 41'.
Draft: 23' including sonar dome.
Displacement: 2,650 tons (full load)
Power Plant: 2 x 600 psi boilers; 1 geared turbine, 1 shaft; 20,000 shaft horsepower.
Speed: 26 knots (design).
Complement: 13 officers; 178 enlisted.
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