( CNN ) When the USS Kauffman steamed out of Norfolk Naval Station earlier this month , it marked the beginning of the end for an entire class of vessels in the U.S. Navy . The Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate will be the last of more than four dozen such ships to put itself in harm 's way . `` I am honored and humbled to have this opportunity to lead such a capable and proud group of sailors on this , the final deployment of an FFG-7 class ship , and to be the last in a great line of frigate commanding officers , '' the Kauffman 's skipper , Cmdr . Michael Concannon , said in a Navy statement . The final mission for the Kauffman and its crew of 250 will be to combat drug trafficking in the U.S. Southern Command 's area of responsibility , the waters of the Caribbean and off the coasts of Central and South America . `` What a fitting mission for this great ship and crew to leave as its final legacy , keeping drugs off the streets of America by stopping them at the source , '' Concannon said . After it returns from the drug trafficking mission , the Kauffman will have spent more than 28 years in the U.S. Navy . It will be decommissioned in September and possibly put up for sale to an allied navy . The first of the Perry class , the USS Oliver Hazard Perry , was launched in 1976 . The Navy once had 51 of the Perry-class ships , which were up to 453 feet long and displaced as much as 4,300 tons . They enjoyed a reputation for toughness , especially after two suffered battle damage in the Persian Gulf in the late 1980s . Perhaps the most famous of the Perry-class ships was the USS Stark , which survived a deadly attack in the Persian Gulf . Thirty-seven U.S. sailors were killed on May 17 , 1987 , when an Iraqi jet fired two Exocet missiles into the ship while it was on patrol during the Iran-Iraq war . Less than a year later , another Perry-class frigate , the USS Samuel B. Roberts , was struck by an Iranian mine , wounding 10 of its crew , blowing a 15-foot hole in its hull and breaking the frigate 's keel , damage that almost always sends a ship to the bottom . The crew of the Roberts , however , was able to save the vessel , in part by using heavy steel cables to tie cracked portions of the ship 's superstructure together . The Roberts was then loaded onto another ship , the Mighty Servant 2 , in Dubai and transported back to the U.S. , ship on ship . Both the Stark and the Roberts were eventually fully repaired and returned to the fleet . The Stark was scrapped in 2006 . The Roberts completed what is expected to be its final mission in December , with its decommissioning planned for this year . The Navy defines the primary missions of frigates as protecting shipping and anti-submarine warfare . Those duties will be taken up by the service 's new littoral combat ships , 20 of which are either in the fleet , under construction or under contract . Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced last week that the LCS will succeed the Perry-class frigates in more than mission . `` Somehow , in the 21st century , we started naming ships with strange acronyms ... instead of from our naval traditions ... so we are going to change the hull designation of the ‪ # ‎LCS‬‬ class ships to FF ( frigate ) ... appropriate and traditional name , '' Mabus said in a speech to the Surface Navy Association 's annual symposium . Those newly designated frigates will join the world 's oldest active warship in the U.S. Navy 's frigate fleet , the USS Constitution . Nicknamed `` Old Ironsides , '' the Navy 's historic tall-masted showpiece was commissioned in 1797 and sails from Boston Harbor to promote the service .
The USS Ranger 's name is the last for Oliver ##a Perry - class frigates . Perry - class frigates have been in the U.S. Navy for almost 40 years . In the 1980s , attacks nearly sank two Perry - class frigates in the Persian Gulf . Navy secretary said littoral warfare frigates will be the new standard .