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USS Flatley (FFG 21)

USS FLATLEY was the 15^th OLIVER HAZARD PERRY class guided missile frigate. She was homeported in Mayport, FL. After decommissioning the frigate became part of the Turkish Navy on September 4, 1997 and was recommissioned as TCG GEMLIK (F 492).

Honoring the memory of Vice Admiral James H. Flatley, who distinguished himself with extraordinary heroism and conspicuous courage during the Battle of the Coral Sea, FLATLEY was constructed by Bath Iron works in Bath, Maine, and commissioned on June 20, 1981. She joined Destroyer Squadron Eight in July 1981, and commenced the rigorous life of an operational unit of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. After completing three deployments and numerous special operations, FLATLEY joined the Naval Reserve Force in November of 1987.

FLATLEY took part in Operation Restore Democracy in July 1994 and transported Haitians to Guantanamo Naval Station. In 1994, the ship spent more time off the coast of Haiti during Operation Support Democracy than any other ship, rescuing more than 1,500 Haitians at sea. In 1995, the ship spent time conducting counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS FLATLEY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

The Shield:

Dark blue and gold are the colors traditionally associated with the Navy, and symbolize the sea and excellence. The golden wings represent Vice Admiral James H. Flatley's service as a naval aviator, and the stars allude to his rank. He was awarded the Navy Cross for "extraordinary heroism and conspicuous courage" during the Battle of the Coral Sea, symbolized by the cross pattee. The pile represents a formation of attacking airplanes and the barry wavy, an heraldic symbol for water, represents the Navy's sweep across the Pacific, spearheaded by the aircraft carriers.

The Crest:

The red lion, adapted from the Flatley Coat of Arms, is a symbol of strength and courage. He carries a scythe in reference to Admiral Flatley's command of a fighter squadron, the "Grim Reapers," aboard the USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65). The crest also symbolizes the essence and capabilities of a FFG, watchful, yet fully-armed.

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Accidents aboard USS FLATLEY:

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USS FLATLEY History:

USS FLATLEY was an OLIVER HAZARD PERRY-class guided missile frigate built for the United States Navy and named for James H. Flatley, a senior naval aviator and tactician. The ship's sponsor was Dorothy M. Flatley. Construction was carried out by Bath Iron Works at Bath. She was ordered on February 28, 1977, laid down on November 13, 1979, launched on May 15, 1980, and was under way in the Atlantic Ocean for acceptance trials by March 18, 1981, a point at which she was documented executing maneuvering evolutions at sea as the builder completed trial requirements. FLATLEY was commissioned on June 20, 1981 at Bath, Maine. After commissioning, she joined Destroyer Squadron Eight in July 1981 and was homeported at Naval Station Mayport, placing her in the Atlantic Fleet's Mayport surface force that regularly fed units into Caribbean workups and Mediterranean deployments during the late Cold War.

By mid-1982, FLATLEY was already being used in higher-tempo operational tasking typical for the class - escort, surveillance, and major readiness exercises - reflecting U.S. Navy emphasis on Atlantic convoy/escort capability and the ability to counter Soviet naval activity beyond the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap and into the wider Atlantic basin. In a first-person professional account by her operations officer, FLATLEY's documented activity between June 1982 and November 1983 included acting in escort force commander duties associated with USS IOWA (BB 61) tow operations through the Straits of Florida; extended "tattletale" surveillance operations against a Soviet surface action group in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico; participation in the large-scale Atlantic readiness exercise RedEx-83; and a seven-month deployment to the Mediterranean-based United States Sixth Fleet.

Within that same early operational period, multiple dated touchpoints place FLATLEY in specific evolutions and events. On December 28-29, 1982, during a U.S. counter-surveillance mission set in the Caribbean, USS JESSE L. BROWN (FF 1089) executed a documented turnover with FLATLEY - i.e., FLATLEY relieved the departing ship on the assigned tasking - after which JESSE L. BROWN returned to port. On March 16, 1983, FLATLEY was involved in a collision with USS ANTRIM (FFG 20) approximately 160 miles north of Puerto Rico during training exercises suffering only superficial damage.

FLATLEY's seven-month Sixth Fleet deployment (within the June 1982-November 1983 span) placed her in the wider geopolitical environment of rising instability in Lebanon and heightened superpower naval competition in the Mediterranean. The U.S. Navy surged amphibious and surface combatant presence as part of the broader U.S. posture during the Lebanon crisis, while simultaneously maintaining NATO-aligned readiness and monitoring Soviet Mediterranean Squadron activity. During the redeployment phase at the end of that crisis response, a U.S. Navy historical summary records that on November 4, 1983, USS ANTRIM and USS FLATLEY transited the Suez Canal "en route homeward", and that the group departed the Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar on November 10, 1983.

Later documentation confirms FLATLEY's presence in the Middle East maritime theater during the final phase of the Iran-Iraq War's "Tanker War" period, when U.S. naval forces operated in and around the Persian Gulf approaches to safeguard shipping and deter attacks on merchant traffic. A U.S. Navy photograph record places USS FLATLEY underway in the Gulf of Oman on September 14, 1987.

By November 30, 1987, FLATLEY was assigned to the Naval Reserve Force at Mayport, reflecting the Navy's force structure shift that placed selected frigates into reserve status while still employing them for operational tasking as required. In the early 1990s, she is explicitly documented as being homeported at Mobile. The record becomes notably more date-specific again in late 1991, when FLATLEY supported counter-drug/law-enforcement activity with an embarked Coast Guard law enforcement detachment: a Department of Justice statistical digest lists a marijuana seizure entry for "LEDET/USS FLATLEY" dated December 3, 1991, totaling 2,220 pounds. A separate Coast Guard awards manual records USS FLATLEY for the period December 2, 1991, through December 15, 1991, consistent with a defined operational window for such missions.

In the Haiti enforcement phase that followed the 1991 coup and the subsequent international sanctions regime, FLATLEY is directly placed on station in the multinational naval effort off Haiti. A contemporaneous January 7, 1994 report from the Guantanamo Bay Gazette describes a rescue of nine sailors from the Honduran merchant vessel SOUTHERN SKY on "Dec. 28" (the report's context implies late 1993), involving on-scene coordination by USCGC DALLAS and assistance from the Canadian Forces replenishment ship PROVIDER plus U.S. aircraft, with the rescued sailors brought aboard FLATLEY overnight before being flown onward to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. That same report explicitly situates FLATLEY and PROVIDER as participating in Operation Support Democracy - the maritime enforcement effort tied to U.N. sanctions and the Governors Island political framework - providing a firm operational anchor for FLATLEY's late-1993/early-1994 activity off Haiti. On April 30, 1994, FLATLEY is also documented making a U.S. port visit to Baton Rouge for Navy Awareness Day, mooring alongside USS KIDD (DDG 993). In mid-1994, as the basing picture shifted, a Navy BRAC-era summary notes that, after the June 1994 closure of Naval Station Mobile, frigates including ANTRIM and FLATLEY shifted homeport to Pascagoula.

FLATLEY was decommissioned on May 11, 1996. After decommissioning, the ship was among the frigates later authorized for transfer to Turkey on a sales basis. Ex-FLATLEY entered Turkish service as TCG GEMLIK, with an acquisition date widely given as August 27, 1998.

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USS FLATLEY Image Gallery:

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