USS Bagley (FF-1069) was a of the United States Navy. She was the 18th ship of the Knox class, built as a destroyer escort (DE) and redesignated as a frigate (FF) in the 1975 USN ship reclassification. Bagley was the fourth ship of the USN named for Ensign Worth Bagley, the only US Navy officer killed in action during the Spanish–American War. Construction and career Bagley was laid down on 5 October 1970 at Seattle, Washington, by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company. The ship was launched on 17 April 1971, sponsored by Mrs. Marie Louise H. Bagley, widow of Admiral David Worth Bagley and posthumous sister-in-law of Ensign Worth Bagley. The vessel was commissioned on 6 May 1972 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. 1972–1979 The escort ship conducted acceptance trials along the coasts of Washington and British Columbia and then headed south for her new home port at San Diego, California, where she arrived on 25 July 1972. The warship began a restricted availability from 31 July to 9 September. She departed San Diego on 16 September, bound for Pearl Harbor and her shakedown cruise. Bagley arrived in Pearl Harbor on 22 September and operated in Hawaiian waters into October. On the 3d of that month, she stood out of Pearl Harbor and headed for San Diego. The warship reached that port on 9 October. Over the next month, she conducted exercises out of San Diego. On 15 November, Bagley entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and began an extended post-shakedown availability during which her main propulsion plant was converted to use Navy distillate fuel. The warship completed repairs and modifications on 4 May 1973 and returned to San Diego that same day. She began training operations along the California coast three days later and continued those evolutions through most of the summer. She stood out of San Diego on 11 September and headed for the western Pacific. She conducted training operations in the Hawaiian Islands 17 September–26 and then resumed her westward voyage. She arrived in Yokosuka, Japan, on 5 October. A week later, the escort ship shaped a course for the Philippines. Bagley arrived in Subic Bay on 17 October for two days of upkeep and liberty. On the 19th, she weighed anchor and headed for a patrol station in the Gulf of Tonkin. Ten days later, she received orders to accompany the aircraft carrier to