The Beginning

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The FRAM program of the US Navy was in response to the build up of the Russian military threat of the cold war. Submarine detection and destruction was now the priority of the late 50s and early 60s. The program was started by Admiral Arleigh Burke as a response to estimates that the Soviets would have a force of about 300 modern fast-attack submarines by 1957. The US Navy was unable to produce enough destroyer escorts and other anti-submarine warfare-capable ships to counter this threat, given other priorities such as new anti-aircraft warfare-capable frigates and aircraft carriers, so Burke instead looked for ways to modify the existing World War II-era destroyer fleet.  The Navy did a study that revealed that the existent Gearing and Sumner class destroyers could be modernized to meet these challenges at considerable costs savings over building new ships. Thus the FRAM I and II came into being with each ship in these classes being granted its own 18 month yard time. Ships began entering the shipyard by the early 1960s.
 

FRAM Modifications

The vast majority of the Gearing class received FRAM I overhauls while all Sumner class destroyers that were modified received FRAM II conversions. The FRAM I ships were completely stripped to the main deck and all interior machinery was overhauled or replaced. Electronics and state of the art weapon systems were to be installed. More specifically, all secondary WWII weaponry and the No. 2 twin 5in gun were removed on most vessels of the class. A Mk32 surface vessel torpedo tube took the place of the No. 2 forward mount while other ships had these units installed between the smokestacks. In addition, FRAM 1 ships received ASROC (Anti Submarine Rocket Launcher) and a respective control station between her stacks. ASROC fired a rocket at a submarines position that would parachute out a Mk44/MK46 homing torpedo or nuclear depth charge in to the water. The caps on the smoke stacks were modified on all FRAM destroyers to protect against nuclear overpressure.

A hangar deck was created aft to launch and stow a DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter). The Gyrodyne QH-50C DASH was an unmanned anti-submarine helicopter, controlled remotely from the ship that would deploy Mk.44 or MK46 homing ASW torpedoes. During this era the ASROC system had an effective range of only 5 nautical miles (9 km), but the DASH drone allowed the ship to deploy ASW attack to sonar contacts as far as 22 nautical miles (41 km) away. Adjacent to the hangar itself was the ASROC stowage compartment.

The new ultra low frequency SQS-23 sonar (with a 40,000 yard range) was installed forward to complement the ASW weaponry as well as an ECM array installed aft of the ASROC. The secondary mast carried Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) and Electronic Support Measures (ESM) antenna/domes. The domes were part of the ESM AN/WLR1 system of surveillance. This system allowed for the accessing of enemy ship and aircraft radio, radar, and navigation transmissions. This information would reveal the location, type of enemy weapon systems, and potential threat. On the ends of the mast, were ECM equipment that tried to confuse the enemy by interfering with the enemies communication systems.

The superstructure and interior compartments were totally rebuilt to accommodate and protect the increased amount of personnel needed to maintain and operate the new equipment. The FRAM MK II program was designed primarily for the Sumner class destroyers, but was used to upgrade some of the Gearing class . This upgrade program included life-extension refurbishment, a new radar system, Mk. 32 torpedo tubes, DASH ASW drone, and a variable depth sonar
 

Result

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A total of 94 Gearing's and 33 Allen M. Sumner's received FRAM modifications from 1960–1965.  All but four Gearings received FRAM I or FRAM II conversions.  The FRAM project was supposed to add 8-10 years on to the operating lives of these ships. However the actual service of these ships lasted some 20 years in some cases due to the use as a outstanding gunfire support platform during the Vietnam War and ASROC continuing to provide a standoff ASW capability.

 

The FRAM destroyers were eventually replaced as ASW ships by the Knox-class frigates , which were commissioned 1969–1974, and the Spruance-class destroyers, which were commissioned 1975–1983. Both of the replacement classes had the same ASW armament as a Gearing FRAM I destroyer, with the addition of more and faster ASROC reloads, improved sonar, and a piloted helicopter.

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Top image below is USS Sarsfield (DD-837) is off Boston, Massachusetts (USA), on 23 August 1945 as built. Bottom image below is USS Rowan (DD-782) is underway in the Western Pacific, circa early 1965, after her FRAM I refit.