International Hydrofoil Society Correspondence Archives...
The PCH 1 was originally intended to be the
Navy's first operational hydrofoil craft. On January 24, 1958, the Chief
of Naval Operations requested the Bureau of Ships to perform a design
study of hydrofoil craft for harbor defense and coastal patrol. Results of
this study were reported to OPNAV on March 7, 1958 recommending that
hydrofoil patrol craft replace PCs and SCs in the FY 1960 shipbuilding
program. On July 25, 1958 the Ship Characteristics Board (SCB) issued ship
characteristics for a Patrol Craft Hydrofoil (PCH). Bureau of Ships Code
420 was directed to provide a preliminary design of a PCH. This was
completed on March 5, 1958 and turned over to the Hull Design Branch, Code
440, for contract design. The PCH contract plans and specifications
were approved on January 18, 1960, and a $2.08M fixed -price contract for
construction was awarded to the Boeing Company in June 1960. Boeing
awarded a subcontract to Martinac Shipbuilding for construction, and the
keel was laid on February 27, 1961 at the Martinac Shipyard in Tacoma,
Washington. PCH 1 was launched on August 17, 1962 and christened HIGH
POINT in honor of the city of High Point, North Carolina. On November
13, 1962, CINCPACFLT tentatively assigned her to COMASWFORPAC with the
expectation that she would be assigned to Anti-Submarine (ASW) forces.
After completion of Final Acceptance Trials
on January 28, 1963, HIGH POINT was delivered to the Navy at the
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) on August 15, 1963. On May 7, 1964, CNO
approved the request of PSNS for a 9-month extension of HIGH POINT
's availability for special performance trials and, on October 22, a
decision was made to effect extensive repair and refurbishment of the
ship. At this point, an extensive R&D effort,
described in this book, was undertaken during which HIGH POINT became a
prime platform for expanding the technology base for hydrofoil craft. This
included an evaluation of the ship by the Coast Guard as a cutter (WMEH 1) in
April 1975. In the years that followed, the expanding
knowledge base of hydrofoil systems design and application led to design,
construction, test, and evaluation of a number of hydrofoil test craft. In the
mid 1970s this culminated in the acquisition of a squadron of six Navy Patrol
Hydrofoil Missile (PHM) ships. They were built by Boeing and deployed to Key
West, FL. Working with the Coast Guard, they demonstrated the many advantages of
these high performance ships, with heavy firepower, and the capability of very
high speed in very rough seas. The technology developed in this program also
contributed to the building of several types of commercial hydrofoils such as
the Boeing Jetfoil. HIGH POINT was deactivated on December 01,
1984, and her Navy crew was reassigned. She had spent twenty good years in
making major contributions to the knowledge of how to design and operate
military and commercial hydrofoil ships. -- Wm. M. Ellsworth, P.E.
On March 28, 1965, the Bureau of Ships
requested DTMB to become the Technical Agent for Navy hydrofoil R&D. This
resulted in the establishment and staffing of the DTMB Hydrofoil Development
Project Office (Code 050) under Wm. M. Ellsworth, reporting to the Technical
Director of the Laboratory. Early deficiencies in HIGH POINT had made it
clear that there was a pressing need for additional R&D before hydrofoil
craft would be ready for deployment to the Fleet. To this end, DTMB established
a Hydrofoil Special Trials Unit (HYSTU) as a tenant activity of the Puget Sound
Naval Shipyard. HIGH POINT was placed under technical and administrative
control of HYSTU and operational control of COM-13 for the conduct of an
extensive R&D test program.
