The Knox class design was derived from the Brooke-class frigate modified to extend range and without a long-range missile system.
The ships were equipped with a torpedo-carrying DASH drone helicopter; its telescoping hangar and landing pad were positioned amidships aft of the mack.
Subsequent to this initial voyage overseas, McCandless adopted a regular schedule of deployments which took her to the waters of the North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Persian Gulf.
31 December 1991 marked McCandless's assignment to the Naval Reserve Force, Atlantic (Norfolk, Virginia) where she was reclassified as a training frigate (FFT-1084).
Simultaneously decommissioned and leased to Turkey under the new name of TCG Trakya (F-254) on 6 May 1994, McCandless was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 January.