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.
The Zumwalt-class destroyer is a class of three United States Navy guided-missile destroyers designed as multi-mission stealth ships with a focus on land attack. It is a multi-role class that was designed with a primary role of naval gunfire support and secondary roles of surface warfare and anti-aircraft warfare. The class design emerged from the DD-21 "land attack destroyer" program as "DD(X)" and was intended to take the role of battleships in meeting a congressional mandate for naval fire support. The ship is designed around its two Advanced Gun Systems (AGS), turrets with 920 round magazines, and unique Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) ammunition. LRLAP procurement was canceled, rendering the guns unusable, so the Navy re-purposed the ships for surface warfare. Starting in 2023, the Navy will remove the AGS from the ships and replace them with hypersonic missiles.
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 Pegasus is the name of two ships of the United States Navy:
USS Gemini (PHM-6) was the final ship of her class of hydrofoils operated by the U.S. Navy. She was named for the constellation.
USS Aries (PHM-5) was the fifth ship of her class of hydrofoils operated by the United States Navy. Pegasus class vessels were designed for high speed and mobility. Despite being small in size, they carried a large 76 mm gun. Aries was named for the constellation.
The second USS Aquila (PHM-4) was the fourth ship of her class of hydrofoils operated by the United States Navy. Pegasus class vessels were designed for high speed and mobility, and carried a powerful armament.
USS Taurus (PHM-3) was the third ship of her class of hydrofoils operated by the United States Navy. Pegasus class vessels were designed for high speed and mobility, and carried a powerful armament. The ship was named for the constellation Taurus.
USS Hercules (PHM-2) was a United States Navy hydrofoil patrol vessel operated from 1982 to 1993. Pegasus class vessels were designed for high speed and mobility and carried a powerful armament for their size. The Hercules was named for the constellation.
The names of commissioned ships of the United States Navy all start with USS, for United States Ship. Non-commissioned, primarily civilian-crewed vessels of the U.S. Navy under the Military Sealift Command have names that begin with USNS, standing for United States Naval Ship. A letter-based hull classification symbol is used to designate a vessel's type. The names of ships are selected by the Secretary of the Navy. The names are those of states, cities, towns, important persons, important locations, famous battles, fish, and ideals. Usually, different types of ships have names originated from different types of sources.
Technical research ships were used by the United States Navy during the 1960s to gather intelligence by monitoring, recording and analyzing wireless electronic communications of nations in various parts of the world. At the time these ships were active, the mission of the ships was covert and discussion of the true mission was prohibited. The mission of the ships was publicly given as conducting research into atmospheric and communications phenomena. However, the true mission was more or less an open secret and the ships were commonly referred to as "spy ships".
USS Delphinus has been the name of two ships of the United States Navy, named after Delphinus, a northern constellation.
USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) is a guided missile destroyer of the United States Navy. She is the lead ship of the Zumwalt class and the first ship to be named after Admiral Elmo Zumwalt. Zumwalt has stealth capabilities, having a radar cross-section similar to a fishing boat despite her large size. On 7 December 2015, Zumwalt began her sea trial preparatory to joining the Pacific Fleet. The ship was commissioned in Baltimore on 15 October 2016. Her home port is San Diego, California.
The USS Tucumcari (PGH-2) was a Boeing-built hydrofoil. Named after Tucumcari, New Mexico, it was the basis for the technology used in the subsequent Pegasus-class patrol boats and the Jetfoil ferries. Its unique feature was a waterjet propulsion and a computer-controlled fully submerged foil configuration of one foil at the bow and foils on the port and starboard sides. The Tucumcari was one of two prototype boats contracted by the Navy under project SCB 252 for the purpose of evaluating the latest hydrofoil technology. The second boat was the rival Grumman-built USS Flagstaff (PGH-1).
The Sparviero class, also known as the Nibbio class, are small hydrofoil missile boats capable of traveling at speeds of 46 knots. They were designed for and formerly used by the Italian Navy. The Japanese 1-go class missile boat is an updated version formerly used by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF).
The Matka class is the NATO reporting name for a group of hydrofoil missile boats built for the Soviet Navy. The Soviet designation was Project 206MR Vikhr. Following the 1997 Black Sea Fleet partition treaty all Black Sea Fleet Matka class boats were passed to the Ukrainian Navy but the last vessel of the class was allegedly captured by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Sarancha class is the NATO reporting name for a hydrofoil missile boat built for the Soviet Navy. The Soviet designation was Project 1240 Uragan.
PHM Pegasus is a ship simulation and action game released for the Commodore 64, Apple II, DOS, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. The title refers to USS Pegasus (PHM-1), one of the Pegasus-class hydrofoils which were used by the U.S. Navy in the 1970s.
The Constellation class is a class of multi-mission guided-missile frigates under development for the United States Navy as a follow-on to the modular but problematic littoral combat ship. The U.S. Navy announced the FFG(X) frigate project in the United States Department of Defense Request For Information (RFI) on 10 July 2017.
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