USS Tacoma (PGM-92)

USS Tacoma (PGM-92)

USS Tacoma (PGM-92/PG-92) was an Asheville-class gunboat of the U.S. Navy and the fourth ship to be named after the city of Tacoma, Washington. Tacoma was the first in a series of revised Asheville-class gunboats. Some sources call these revised boats Tacoma- or PG-92-class, but the U.S. Navy officially designates them as Asheville-class. The keel of Tacoma was laid 24 July 1967 at the Tacoma Boatbuilding Co., in her namesake city. She was launched on 13 April 1968, sponsored by Mrs. Arne K. Strom, and was commissioned on 14 July 1969, with Lt. Frank H. Thomas, Jr., in command.

Originally fitted with a 40mm cannon aft, Tacoma was re-fitted with a 20mm for training. In addition to the dual mounts for .50 caliber machine guns on the O-2 level, there were mounts for twin M-60 machine guns on the O-3 level. Either could be replaced with the Mk-19 grenade launcher.

The Tacoma was powered by a combination of two Cummins Diesel engines and a General Electric LM-1500 Gas Turbine. Pneumatic actuators allowed the power source to be switched between the two sources. The Controllable Reversible Pitch (CRP) propellers allowed the ship to stop in as little as 2 ship lengths from top speed. Top speed on the gas turbine was in excess of 42 knots.