The US Navy is continuing work on refurbishing a retired Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate ahead of the ship’s hand-over to the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Former USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG 49) is being transferred following a 2019 agreement on the sale of the ship for an estimated cost of $150 million.
After the action was approved by Congress, the ship was sent to a shipyard in Charleston to begin its refurbishment. A multiagency multinational team of professionals is working hard to ensure mechanical and electrical systems are in working order, said Lee Joines, Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS) foreign military sales branch supervisor.
“We were asked to assist because we are the logistics experts. We have the knowledge, training and expertise to procure and acquire the necessary parts and materials,” said Joines.
Kristen Marshall, a two-year NAVSUP WSS outfitting specialist, is on-site in South Carolina helping to get the ship ready. “It’s going really well,” she said. “We work closely with contractors and Bahraini sailors. They provide us with the requests and lists of items needed, and we get it for them.”
The US Navy did not reveal when exactly the ship will be handed over, but it will be joining another former Oliver Hazard Perry-class already in service with the navy of Bahrain. The former USS Jack Williams (FFG-24) which is now known as RBNS Sabha, was sold to Bahrain in September 1996 and is currently the flagship of the Royal Bahrain Naval Force.
