Patrol Craft Fast - Currently

Currently

The Mediterranean island nation of Malta was one of the last operators to make use of two Swift Boats in their Armed Forces of Malta's (AFM) Maritime Squadron. The Swifts were built at the time of the Vietnam war, with the two vessels used in Malta having started their life as training vessels. These craft, transferred by the US government in 1971 when Dr. George Borg Olivier was still Prime Minister, carried hull numbers P23 and P24 respectively and, while somewhat modified, maintained the look of the original riverine warfare boats. The two small inshore patrol boats became the work horses of the AFM's Maritime Squadron and were only retired once four new Austal patrol boats were commissioned in 2011. Ex-US Navy Vietnam veterans, from the Swift Boat Sailors' Association (SBSA), visited Malta in 2010 and said the Malta Swifts were the last two still in service, out of hundreds that were built. One of the two patrol boats headed back to the US to become a memorial in summer 2012 at the San Diego Maritime Museum in California. The museum will have a display that pays tribute to the fallen Maltese servicemen who died on board the P23 (the sister vessel of P24) during a tragic accident that occurred on September 7, 1984. The incident – the worst peace-time tragedy suffered by Maltese services personnel – claimed the lives of five AFM soldiers and two policemen when illegal fireworks about to be dumped into the sea exploded on the bow of the small patrol boat. The AFM retained P-23 as a memorial to those killed in the explosion.

There are two Swift Boats preserved in static displays in the United States. Both are ex-U.S. Navy PCF Swift Boats that were originally stationed in California to train PCF crews. One is located at the Navy Museum at Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.; the second Swift Boat is on the Naval Special Weapons Base at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, California, the original home of PCF training.

U.S. Senator John Kerry served aboard Swift Boats for approximately four of the 16 months he served in Vietnam. LTJG Kerry was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts during riverine combat in a PCF. As the Democratic nominee for president Kerry made his military service a key component of his campaign. A 527 group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth formed to challenge Kerry on his record. Crewmembers under Kerry disputed the group's charges. Kerry campaign operatives derided the claims of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, creating the term "swiftboating," to mean a type of ad hominem smear campaign. The term has since entered American political jargon equating swift boat service with smear tactics. In an article in the New York Times on June 30, 2008, Swift Boat veterans objected to the prevalent use of the verb "swiftboating" as this type of ad hominem attack, stating that it is disrespectful to the men who served and died on the PCFs during Vietnam.