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fighting ships of the world

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 

COASTAL FORCES

 

PEGASUS missile hydrofoils (1977 - 1983)

Pegasus 1980

 

No Name Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comm Fate
PHM1 Pegasus   Boeing, Renton 10.5.1973 9.11.1974 9.7.1977 stricken 7.1993
PHM2 Hercules   Boeing, Renton 12.9.1980 13.4.1982 18.12.1982 stricken 7.1993
PHM3 Taurus   Boeing, Renton 30.1.1979 8.5.1981 10.10.1981 stricken 7.1993
PHM4 Aquila   Boeing, Renton 10.7.1979 16.9.1981 26.6.1982 stricken 7.1993
PHM5 Aries   Boeing, Renton 7.1.1980 5.11.1981 18.9.1982 stricken 7.1993
PHM6 Gemini   Boeing, Renton 13.5.1980 17.2.1982 13.11.1982 stricken 7.1993

 

Displacement standard, t

198 light

Displacement full, t

PHM1: 235

PHM2-6: 241

Length, m

36.0 wl 40.5 oa 44.7 with foils retracted

Breadth, m

8.60 hull 14.5 over aft foils

Draught, m

7.10 max 1.90 with foils retracted 2.70 foilborne

No of shafts

3 water jets (1 for gas turbine / 2 for cruising diesels)

Machinery

1 General Electric LM-2500 PB102 gas turbine / 2 MTU 8V331TC81 diesels

Power, h. p.

18000 / 1630

Max speed, kts

50 / 11 on diesels

Fuel, t

gas turbine oil + diesel oil 50

Endurance, nm(kts)

600(40) or 1200+(11)

Armament

2 x 4 Harpoon SSM (8 RGM-84), 1 x 1 - 76/62 Mk 75

Electronic equipment

PHM1: SPS-64(V)1, Mk 94 radars, ALR-66 ECM suite, 2x LADS decoy RLs

PHM2-6: SPS-64(V)1, Mk 92 radars, SLQ-650 ECM suite, 2 Mk 34 RBOC decoy RLs

Complement

21

Project history: Although neither Flagstaff nor Tucumcari was reproduced, Boeing did use Tucumcari as the basis for the Italian Sparviero class missile boats. Israel ordered two 'Super Flagstaffs' with Harpoon missiles in 1978. Moreover, Boeing experience with Tucumcari presumably shows in the design of the next-generation hydrofoil combatant, the missile hydrofoil Pegasus.

    The missile hydrofoils were originally conceived by Admiral Zumwalt as successors to the missile-armed Asheville class 'tattletales', that is, as a means of countering Soviet missile-armed surface craft, particularly in restricted waters. They had the important advantage of very high speed even in rough weather; it must have appeared that their small size would equate to low unit cost. The PHM programme was, for a time, a NATO-wide one, the Italian and West German governments participating in the design. Germany was to have built twelve. However, as costs rose only the United States, which planned thirty, remained in the programme. Cynics suggested strongly that the PHM was a solution in search of a problem, and (with the programme reduced to six craft) PHM2-6 were cancelled on 15 April 1977. However, they were reinstated that August at the request of Congress. PHM2 was to be unarmed, and by 1981 it appeared unlikely that further units would be built. One of the more curious aspects of the PHM story was the attempt to find alternative missions, a Sea Phoenix variant for fleet air defence coming close to the formal proposal stage within the Department of Defense.

Modernizations: None.

 

Naval service: No significant events.

Pegasus 1979

Pegasus 1979

© Ivan Gogin, 2016