Difference between revisions of "USS High Point (PCH-1)"

Revision as of 18:54, 1 July 2010

USS High Point USS High Point underway
Career (USA)
Name:	USS High Point (PCH-1)
Namesake:	High Point, North Carolina
Awarded:	14 June 1960
Builder:	J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down:	27 February 1961
Launched:	August 17, 1962
Acquired:	15 August 1963
In service:	15 August 1963
Struck:	1980
Status:	Private ownership
General characteristics
Class and type:	High Point-class patrol craft
Displacement:	110 Tons
Length:	115 ft (35 m)
Beam:	32 ft (9.8 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m) with foils down
Speed:	30 knots

USS High Point (PCH-1) was a High Point-class patrol craft of the United States Navy, and was launched August 17, 1962 by J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corporation in Tacoma, Washington. Built in conjunction with Boeing in Seattle, Washington she was placed in service August 15, 1963 with Lieutenant H. G. Billerbeck in charge. High Point was named after High Point, North Carolina.

High Point was the first of a series of hydrofoil craft designed to evaluate the performance of this kind of craft for the US Navy. She has three submerged foils containing propulsion nacelles and propellers, and was also capable of riding on her hull like a more conventional ship. On her foils, High Point obtained very high-speed and was evaluated for mobility and flexibility as an antisubmarine force. The craft carried out tests in Puget Sound during 1967-1968.

High Point was decommissioned in March 1975 from the US Navy and transferred to the United States Coast Guard on April 4, 1975 and commissioned as USCGC High Point (WMEH-1). She was again decommissioned May 5, 1975 and returned to US Navy custody. High Point was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register sometime in 1980. In 2002 she was purchased by a private owner intent on restoring the craft, but the effort did not succeed. In 2005 Terence Orme purchased High Point to save it from scrap. Currently volunteers are restoring the vessel as a future museum.^[1]

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.

External links

• USS High Point at Navsource
• Current owner website
• 2002 website of past owner
• Video at British Movietone Digital Archive

1. ↑ Cassandra Profita, "Ship's Legacy Could Rise Again" Daily Astorian, 15 December 2009. Accessed online at http://www.dailyastorian.com/print.asp?ArticleID=66417 10 April 2010.