The first production class of post-World War II-era ocean escort designed around the very large bow-mounted SQS-26 sonar was the 10-ship Garcia class. Forty-two feet longer than the Bronsteins, with high-freeboard flush-deck hulls and new pressure-fired 1200 psi boilers, their powerplants generated 35,000 shp, 75 per cent more than their predecessors, good for 29 knots on trial and suitable for the escort duites for which they were intended.
   Two ships were authorized in FY 1961; four each in FY 1962 and 1963. Built at four different yards and commissioned as destroyer escorts (DEs) 1040–41, 1043–45 and 1047–51 in 1964–68, they were redesignated frigates (FF) on 30 June 1975.
   Counting Bath-built Glover (included in the table at left) and the six guided missile escorts of the Brooke class, seventeen ships were built on the basic Garcia hull. Unlike the Bronsteins, the Garcias mounted two single 5-inch/38s, one on the bow and one with a limited arc of fire on the superstructure amidships. Hangars for the DASH unmanned helicopter were fitted but never used. In 1972-75, however, all except Sample and Albert David were modified to handle the new LAMPS Mk I (SH-2D Seasprite)

Below: the ten Garcia-class destroyer escorts after redesignation as frigates. Click on any image to view it in more detail. FF 1040 Garcia, FF 1041 Bradley, FF 1043 Edward McDonnell, FF 1044 Brumby, FF 1045 Davidson, FF 1047 Voge, FF 1048 Sample, FF 1049 Koelsch, FF 1050 Albert David, FF 1051 O’Callahan.

manned helicopter.
   The ten Garcias decommissioned before the Bronsteins, in 1988 and 1989. Garcia, Brumby, Koelsch and O’Callahan were subsequently leased to Pakistan but transferred back in 1993–4 before being sold for scrap. Bradley, Davidson, Sample and Albert David were first leased to Brazil in 1989 and then sold to Brazil in 2001 but retired soon thereafter. Voge and Edward McDonnell were stricken in 1992 and sold for scrap in 1995 and 2001 respectively.

SPECIFICATIONS
Length: 414' overall; 390' waterline.
Beam: 44'.
Draft: 24' including sonar dome.
Displacement: 2,624 tons (light); 3,560 tons (full load).
Speed: 27 knots (design); 29 knots (trial).
Complement: 13 officers; 196 enlisted.