FRAM refits as a bridge to Cold War frigate doctrine

Was the FRAM refit of Fletcher and Gearing destroyers the right Cold War doctrinal choice?

For hulls with plenty of service life left, yes: the refits created useful anti-submarine ships and fed practical experience into later frigate design.

The program discarded surplus gun and torpedo arrangements in favor of ASROC, anti-submarine torpedoes, and limited air defense. These ships were no longer ideal fleet escorts or independent destroyers, but they offered an affordable laboratory for the force that came next. Late-completed Fletcher and Gearing hulls still had useful structural life, making conversion more economical than discarding them. Their equipment and operating experience fed directly into the general-purpose anti-submarine frigates that followed. FRAM also brought the DASH, or Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter, which could carry torpedoes beyond the ship. Its 1959 first flight and 1960s production show that uncrewed anti-submarine systems were an operational Cold War idea rather than a recent invention.