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PTF 26

PTF 26 at Sewart Seacraft now known as Swiftships in Berwick, Louisiana in 1968
History
Owner	1968 - 1971 United States Navy Vietnam 1971 - 1990 US Navy: Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and Pacific Missile Test Center, Port Hueneme 1997 to 2020 Liberty Maritime Inc. as Sea Scout training ship in Sacramento, California 2020 - Current Maritime Pastoral Training Foundation in Golconda, Illinois (Seaman’s Church Institute).
Builder	Swiftships in Berwick, Louisiana
Completed	1968
Commissioned	1968
Decommissioned	1990
In service	1968 - 1990
Nickname(s)	The Last American PT Boat
Status	Museum ship at Golconda, Illinois
Notes	#95PB 684
General characteristics
Class and type	Osprey-Class PTF
Type	Fast patrol boat
Displacement	80 Tons (105 Tons full)
Length	94.5 ft (28.8 m)
Beam	24.5 ft (7.5 m)
Draught	6.8 ft (2.1 m)
Installed power	2 x 3,100 hp with Napier Deltic 2 x 1,600 hp with Detroit Diesel
Propulsion	Two l8-cylinder Napier Deltic engines Now Two 16V71 Desiel Engine
Speed	40 to 51 knots
Crew	19
Armament	2 x Oerlikon 20 mm cannon .50 caliber Browning machine gun 81mm mortar
Armor	Quarter inch thick aluminum hull

PTF-26 is Patrol Craft Fast, (Swift boat), museum ship at the Maritime Pastoral Training Foundation in Golconda, Illinois. PTF-26 is called The Last American PT Boat. PTF-26 was built in 1968 by the Sewart Seacraft now know as Swiftships in Berwick, Louisiana . PTF-26 is small river gunboat built with an aluminium hull. The United States Navy used PTF-26 in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1971 in the Brown-water navy. PTF-26 has a top speed of speed of 40 knots. She is an Osprey-Class PTF boat (PTF-23 to PTF-26) at 95 ft (29 m) long. PTF Boats replace the wooden World War II PT boats. Four new PTF boats were delivered to the Military Assistance Group (MACV) in Da Nang, Vietnam in 1968, PTF-26 was one of the four boats. The four boats were armed with aft 40mm Bofors cannon, forward two Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, .50 caliber Browning machine gun and foredeck 81mm mortar. From 1971 to 1990 she was used by the US Navy at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and Pacific Missile Test Center, Port Hueneme From November 1997 to June 2020 she was with Liberty Maritime Inc. as Sea Scout training ship in Sacramento, California. One her way to Maritime Pastoral Training Foundation she stopped at Morro Bay, California departing Dec. 14 , 2023, then on Dec. 16, the Maritime Museum of San Diego, then the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico and then Pickwick Lake of the Tennessee Valley Authority on July 2024. She is now at Golconda, Illinois were PTF-26 is the first historic naval ship in South Illinois. Golconda, Illinois she is operated by Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps Cadets, Sea cadets and Sea Scouts.

Osprey Class boats

The four Osprey Class PTF boats serviced in the Vietnam war starting in 1968, after being built at Swiftships in Berwick, Louisiana:

• PTF-23 is now a research vessel and diving platform, renamed RV Osprey in St. Augustine, Florida with Twin Detroit 12v71 and fuel Capacity of 6,281 US gallons. PTF-23 is now heavily modified. For a time she was named RV Angel Lauren, a research vessel. The PTF-23 was refitted in 2002 by TLG of Miami, Florida, then used for Treasure surveys until 2004. In 2011 used was used in the Dominican Republic by Anchor Research & Salvage.
• PTF-24 was sunk as target 1985 by US Navy off San Diego, after working with a water jet propulsion convertion testing in the Osprey990 Program with Pegasus-class hydrofoils. PTF-24 worked in Vietnam till 1976. In July 1976 she ran around off San Clemente Island, California.
• PTF-25 was sunk as target 1979 by US Navy, was in Pemblico Sound near Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina at the BT-11 target range-Piney Island Range for USMC pilot training. PTF-25 was modified to look like a Komar-class missile boat. Sank as target at 35°01′37″N 76°27′39″W / 35.026917°N 76.460944°W / 35.026917; -76.460944. PTF-25 worked in Vietnam till 1979.
• PTF 26 now a museum ship in Golconda, Illinois still in PTF configuration.

Gallery

• PTF-24 in 1974
• PTF 26 sister boat PCF-23 operating up a river in Vietnam
• PTF 26 shorter sister boat PCF-32
• Vietnam Unit Memorial Monument at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, patrol craft and coastal patrol boats on display
• Flagstaff (PGH-1) top, experimental coastal patrol and interdiction craft at center, and the PTF-23 bottom, off the coast of southern California in August 1974

See also

• United States Nasty-class patrol boat (PTF 3 to PTF 22) built just before PTF 26
• List of museum ships in North America
• PTF 3

References

1. ""Osprey" patrol boats (PTF23) (1968)". www.navypedia.org.
2. "Gal_ptf23". www.ptfnasty.com.
3. ^ "PATROL CRAFT FAST | Homeland Magazine".
4. "PTF-26". HNSA. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
5. Ltd, Maritime Pastoral Training Foundation. "Maritime Pastoral Training Foundation, Ltd". Maritime Pastoral Training Foundation, Ltd. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
6. "PTF 26". museumships.us.
7. "Ptf 26 Liberty | AMERICAN HERITAGE". www.americanheritage.com.
8. "Vietnam Warship Docked At South T-pier | Estero Bay News".
9. "Museum Boats". LIBERTY MARITIME.
10. "Farewell, PTF 26". LIBERTY MARITIME.
11. "PTF-26".
12. "OspreyManual". www.ptfnasty.com.
13. "PTF-23". www.ptfnasty.com.
14. Wilson, Mark (30 December 2019). "Marine Survey: Navy Osprey PTF-23". Wilson Yacht Survey.
15. "NH 95838 PTF-23 class fast patrol boat". public1.nhhcaws.local.
16. ^ "Swiftships". shipbuildinghistory.com.
17. "PTF-24".
18. https://www.ptfnasty.com/ptf25.htm PTF-25 ptfnasty.com]
19. "PTF-26". www.ptfnasty.com.

37°04′08″N 88°39′19″W / 37.068917°N 88.655333°W / 37.068917; -88.655333

External links

• PCF-45 story, by Robert Shirley
• HNSA Ship Page: Swift Boats to visit as museums and memorials
• Swift Boat Sailors' Association

• Military boats
• Patrol vessels of the United States Navy
• Riverine warfare
• Vietnam War ships
• 1968 ships
• Maritime history of California