USS Flagstaff

As USCGC Flagstaff (WPBH 1) undergoing Coast Guard evaluations.
History
United States
Name	USS Flagstaff
Namesake	Flagstaff, Arizona
Laid down	1 June 1966
Launched	15 July 1966
Christened	by Zilpha A. Wheeler, wife of Flagstaff, Arizona Mayor Rollin Wheeler
Commissioned	14 September 1968 (USN); 8 November 1974 (USCG on loan from USN); 2 March 1977 (USCG)
Decommissioned	30 September 1978
Fate	Returned to USN and scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type	none
Type	Hydrofoil gunboat
Displacement	67 long tons (68 t)
Length	73 ft (22 m) 82 ft (25 m) length overall
Beam	21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Draft	4 ft 4 in (1.32 m) (foils retracted) 18 ft (5.5 m)(foils extended)
Propulsion	Rolls-Royce Tyne gas turbine with supercavitating propeller (foil-borne) 2 × General Motors diesel engines with water-jet pumps (hull-borne)
Speed	Max: at least 45 kn (52 mph; 83 km/h) (foil-borne)
Complement	12 (1974); 13 (1977)
Sensors and processing systems	Navigation-type radar
Armament	1 × 40 mm Bofors AA gun, 1 × 81 mm (3.2 in) mortar, 2 × .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun

USS Flagstaff (PGH-1) was the only Flagstaff-class patrol gunboat (hydrofoil) and was acquired by the United States Navy because of her relatively low cost and very high speed. She was later loaned by the Navy to the U.S. Coast Guard, as USCGC Flagstaff (WPBH-1). The Coast Guard’s interest in the craft was the craft’s speed and its ability to interdict smugglers and other suspicious craft approaching the U.S. coast.