During the 18th and early 19th centuries, a frigate was a sailing vessel designed for speed, with a flush gun deck carrying 24 to 44 guns, used as a commerce raider and for blockade duty. With the introduction of steam and steel warships frigates as a class of warship passed out of use until World War II when they were reintroduced by the British as an antisubmarine escort vessel larger than a corvette? but smaller than a destroyer.
United States Navy
The oldest commissioned warship in the US Navy is [USF Constitution]?, better known as "Old Ironsides," a frigate put into service in the 1790's. It is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world; the [HMS Victory]?, though older, is maintained in drydock.
In the United States Navy, guided missile frigates (with the FFG hull classification symbol) bring an anti-air warfare (AAW) capability to the frigate mission, but they have some limitations. Designed as cost-efficient surface combatants, they lack the multi-mission capability necessary for modern surface combatants faced with multiple, high-technology threats and offer limited capacity for growth.
In an attempt to overcome these limits and provide escorts that could keep up with nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the US Navy commissioned several nuclear-powered frigates in the 1960s. They were far larger than any other frigates ever seen, and all were reclassified as cruisers in 1975 and struck from the [Navy List]? in the 1990s.
All currently-operating frigates in the US Navy are conventionally-powered Oliver Hazard Perry-class ships.
The US Navy no longer has any need for single-mission ships and there are no frigates planned for the US Navy's future.
Partially from: http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/factfile/ships/ship-ffg.html
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