USS NICHOLAS FFG-47 Ship History
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, August 2015
Nicholas operated initially with Destroyer Squadron Six out of Charleston, S.C. The ship deployed to the Persian [Arabian] Gulf in 1988. The guided missile frigate took part in Operation Earnest Will, to maintain freedom of navigation within the Gulf against Iranian aggression. The Americans initially renamed and reflagged 11 Kuwaiti tankers, and Nicholas operated as one of the ships that escorted these tankers.
Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the United Nation sanctioned an economic blockade of the aggressor, that became known as Operation Desert Shield, by a coalition that eventually comprised 29 nations. That blockade failed to deter Iraqi aggression, however, and the coalition responded with Operations Desert Storm/Desert Sabre, an air and ground campaign, respectively, to oust the Iraqis from Kuwait (17 January–28 February 1991).
Sikorsky SH‑60B Seahawks from HSL‑44 Detachment 8, embarked on board Nicholas, provided air targeting while Nicholas, Kuwaiti patrol boats al-Sanbouk (P 4050) and Istiqlal (P 5702), two Army Bell OH-58D Kiowas, and a British Lynx HAS.3 from destroyer Cardiff (D-108) neutralized Iraqi garrisons on nine oil platforms in the ad-Dorra oil field, on 18 January 1991. AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles proved especially effective in tearing through sandbag and plywood shelters, killing five Iraqis. The 23 survivors surrendered in that first combined helicopter, missile, and surface ship gun engagement, and the first capture of enemy prisoners, of the Persian Gulf War.
Nicholas sailed in the Adriatic in 1995 with Standing NATO Force Atlantic to enforce Operation Sharp Guard, a joint NATO and Western European Union naval blockade of shipments into former Yugoslavia to limit the fighting therein. A boat filled with Albanian refugees attempting to flee to Italy capsized, allegedly when a ferry rammed her in the darkness (September 1995). Nicholas rescued 16 people, including a four-year-old child, and provided them with food, water, and medical assistance. The ship also recovered three bodies from the wreckage.
Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the United States on 11 September 2001. Nicholas visited Valetta, Malta, during her deployment to the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean, but she emergency sortied and patrolled the Mediterranean for terrorists.
Pirates fired on Nicholas west of the Seychelles on 1 April 2010. The frigate and her embarked SH-60B Seahawk defeated the pirates, sank their skiff, and captured their mother ship and five Somali pirates (Gabul A. Ali, Abdi W. Dire, Abdi M. Gurewardher, Mohammed M. Hasan, and Abdi M. Umar) from the two vessels. A federal jury in Virginia convicted the five to life plus 80 years in prison (November 2010).
Nicholas, operating out of Norfolk, Va., is scheduled to be decommissioned on 17 March 2014.
