USS High Point

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USS High Point (PCH-1)
USS High Point (PCH-1) underway c1963.jpg
USS High Point underway
Flag of the United States (Pantone).svg  United States Navy
NameUSS High Point
Namesake High Point, North Carolina
Awarded14 June 1960
Builder J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp.
Laid down27 February 1961
Launched17 August 1962
Commissioned15 August 1963
DecommissionedMarch 1975
Stricken1980
FateTransferred to U.S. Coast Guard 4 April 1975
AcquiredTransferred from U.S. Coast Guard May 1975
Stricken1980
FateSold 2002
Ensign of the United States Coast Guard.svg United States Coast Guard
NameUSCGC High Point
NamesakePrevious name retained
Acquired4 April 1975
CommissionedApril 1975
Decommissioned5 May 1975
Stricken1980
FateTransferred to U.S. Navy May 1975
Flag of the United States.svgUnited States
NameHigh Point
NamesakePrevious name retained
Acquired2002
FateScrapped August 2023
General characteristics
Class and typeHigh Point-class patrol craft
Displacement110 Tons
Length115 ft (35 m)
Beam32 ft (9.8 m)
Draft17 ft (5.2 m) with foils down
PropulsionGeneral Electric turbine (foil-borne) [1]
SpeedMaximum 48 knots (foil-borne) [1]

USS High Point (PCH-1) was a High Point-class patrol craft [2] of the United States Navy in commission from 1963 to 1975. She subsequently was in commission in the United States Coast Guard briefly in 1975.

Contents

Construction and commissioning

High Point was the first of a series of hydrofoil craft designed to evaluate the performance of hydrofoils for the U.S. Navy. The design of High Point began in April 1958 under project SCB 202. [3] She had three submerged foils containing propulsion nacelles and propellers, and was also capable of riding on her hull like a more conventional ship.

High Point was launched on 17 August 1962 by J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corporation in Tacoma, Washington as a sub-contractor to Boeing in Seattle, Washington, at a cost of $2.08 million, [4] together with Vickers, Inc. Marine and Ordnance Department in Waterbury, Connecticut, which provided hydraulic components and controls. [5] Electronic equipment aboard, including automatic stabilization equipment and a dead reckoning navigation system, was developed and manufactured by the United Aircraft Corporation Hamilton Standard Division. [6] She was commissioned on 15 August 1963 with Lieutenant H. G. Billerbeck in charge. She was named after High Point, North Carolina. [1]

Service history

U.S. Navy

Hugh Point carried out tests in Puget Sound from 1963 to 1967. [1] On her foils, she obtained very high speeds, and the U.S. Navy evaluated her for mobility and flexibility as an antisubmarine warfare vessel. The U.S. Navy decommissioned her in March 1975.

U.S. Coast Guard

On 4 April 1975, the U.S. Navy transferred High Point to the United States Coast Guard, which acquired her to evaluate hydrofoil characteristics for use in law enforcement, search and rescue, and marine environmental protection missions. After a first round of tests in Puget Sound, the Coast Guard transferred her to San Francisco, California. While she was attempting to moor at Naval Station Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, her turbine exploded. The $300,000 cost of repair was not in the Coast Guard budget, so the Coast Guard decommissioned her on 5 May 1975 and transferred her back to the U.S. Navy. [1]

Later disposition

High Point was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register sometime in 1980. A private owner intent on restoring her purchased her in 2002, but the effort did not succeed. In 2005 Terence Orme purchased her to save her from being scrapped. By 2009, she was moored at Tongue Point near Astoria, Oregon, where volunteers were restoring the vessel for use as a museum. These efforts were abandoned. [4] In 2021, a private individual purchased High Point and began to restore her at Astoria with the goal of making her seaworthy once again. [7]

It was fully scrapped in August of 2023

Related Research Articles

The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol to identify their ships by type and by individual ship within a type. The system is analogous to the pennant number system that the Royal Navy and other European and Commonwealth navies use.

<i>Pegasus</i>-class hydrofoil

The Pegasus-class hydrofoils were a series of fast attack patrol boats employed by the United States Navy. They were in service from 1977 until 1993. These hydrofoils carried the designation "PHM" for "Patrol Hydrofoil, Missile." The Pegasus-class vessels were originally intended for NATO operations in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Subsequently, participation by other NATO navies, including Germany and Italy, ceased and the U.S. Navy proceeded to procure six PHMs, which were highly successful in conducting coastal operations, such as narcotics interdiction and coastal patrol, in the Caribbean basin.

USS <i>Pegasus</i> (PHM-1) Hydrofoil of the US Navy

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USS <i>Bagaduce</i> (ATA-194) Tugboat of the United States Navy

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References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "High Point, PCH-1". U.S. Coast Guard Historians Office. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  2. ↑ "Naval Vessel Register – HIGH POINT (PCH 1)". nvr.navy.mil. Retrieved 25 December 2018.
  3. ↑ Friedman, Small Combatants, pp. 212
  4. 1 2 Profita, Cassandra (15 December 2009). "Ship's legacy could rise again". The Daily Astorian .
  5. ↑ The spectacular Navy Hydrofoil will depend on Vickers Hydraulics. // Aviation Week & Space Technology, 18 February 1963, v. 78, no. 7, p. 18.
  6. ↑ In hydrofoils… // Aviation Week & Space Technology, 20 May 1963, v. 78, no. 20, p. 127.
  7. ↑ Novelly, Thomas (14 January 2021). "The Navy's USS High Point was abandoned. A Charleston man hopes to bring it back to life". The Post and Courier.

Sources

46°11′55″N123°45′33″W / 46.198616°N 123.759163°W / 46.198616; -123.759163

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