U.S. Navy

Patrol Ships

From plywood PT boats in the Solomon Islands to Swift Boats in the Mekong Delta to unmanned Saildrones in the Persian Gulf, patrol craft have always been the Navy's smallest warships doing the closest fighting. Sub chasers, river boats, coastal interceptors — the patrol force goes where the big ships can't and fights where the water runs shallow.

World War II - The Coastal Navy 1940 - 1945

PC-461 - PC-1603

Patrol Craft — Sub Chasers

Three hundred forty-three steel-hulled submarine chasers built in two years. Small enough to be constructed by inland shipyards with no prior naval experience, then shipped to the coast by rail or sailed down the Mississippi. They hunted U-boats off the East Coast, escorted coastal convoys, and served as control vessels for amphibious landings — guiding waves of landing craft to the correct beaches. At Normandy, they were the traffic cops of the invasion. Tiny ships doing enormous work. Read more

Explore Collection

SC-497 - SC-1474

Wooden Sub Chasers

Wooden-hulled sub chasers descended from the WWI 110-foot boats. Four hundred thirty-eight built, crewed mostly by reservists and draftees who had never been to sea. They carried depth charges, mousetraps, and sonar — and they made it work. SC-1029 was credited with sinking U-404 in the Bay of Biscay. Many were transferred to allied navies or converted to other roles. The smallest commissioned warships in the Navy, manned by crews of twenty-seven who called themselves the "Splinter Fleet." Read more

Explore Collection

Motor Torpedo Boats

The mosquito fleet. Plywood boats with aircraft engines, torpedo tubes, and machine guns, throwing themselves at ships fifty times their size in the darkness of the Solomon Islands. PT-109 under Lieutenant John F. Kennedy was cut in half by a Japanese destroyer. PT-41 evacuated General MacArthur from Corregidor. In the Philippines, PT boats fought the night surface actions that larger ships couldn't reach. Fast, fragile, and crewed by men who understood that their best armor was speed and their best weapon was darkness. Read more

Explore Collection

PCE-842 - PCE-904

Patrol Craft Escorts

Larger than sub chasers, smaller than destroyer escorts, patrol craft escorts filled the gap for convoy protection in coastal waters. Armed with depth charges, hedgehog mortars, and a 3-inch gun, they could hunt submarines and provide limited anti-aircraft defense. Many were converted to weather stations, survey ships, or transferred to allied navies after the war. South Korea, the Philippines, and a dozen other nations operated former PCEs into the 1970s. Read more

Explore Collection

PCS-1376 - PCS-1466

Patrol Craft Sweepers

Dual-purpose patrol craft that combined coastal patrol with minesweeping capability. Wooden hulls for mine resistance, equipped with both anti-submarine weapons and sweep gear. They patrolled harbors, swept approach channels, and escorted coastal traffic — three jobs in one small hull. Crewed by men who had to master both mine warfare and anti-submarine warfare because the ship could be called on for either at any time. Read more

Explore Collection

Vietnam - Brown Water Navy 1965 - 1973

PCF-1 - PCF-104

PCF (Swift Boats)

Patrol Craft Fast

Fifty-foot aluminum-hulled patrol boats adapted from Gulf of Mexico crew boats. Armed with twin .50-caliber machine guns in a tub mount and an 81mm mortar aft. Swift boats ran coastal interdiction patrols off Vietnam under Operation Market Time, intercepting Viet Cong supply junks. Later they went up the rivers under Operation SEALORDS, fighting in the Mekong Delta and Cambodian border regions where the water was brown and the ambush distance was measured in feet. Lieutenant John Kerry commanded PCF-44 and PCF-94. Read more

Explore Collection

BROWN WATER NAVY

Patrol Boat, River

+ M60 + Grenade

The definitive river patrol boat of Vietnam. Fiberglass hull, water jet propulsion for shallow-water operations, and enough firepower to suppress both banks simultaneously. PBRs patrolled the Mekong Delta, the Rung Sat Special Zone, and every navigable waterway in-country. They drew fire constantly — the Viet Cong couldn't ignore a boat in their backyard. PBR crews earned more decorations per capita than almost any unit in Vietnam. The boat from Apocalypse Now. The real ones were louder. Read more

Explore Collection

MOBILE RIVERINE FORCE

ASPB (Alpha Boats)

Assault Support Patrol Boats

+ .50 Cal + Mortar

The gunboats of the Mobile Riverine Force. Steel-hulled, heavily armed with 20mm cannon, .50-caliber machine guns, grenade launchers, and 81mm mortars. ASPBs led river convoys, provided fire support for Army troops of the 9th Infantry Division, and minesweept channels ahead of troop-carrying monitors. Bar armor on the hulls detonated RPGs before they could penetrate. The boats that took the fight to the enemy in the tightest, most dangerous waterways in Vietnam. Read more

Explore Collection

Modern Patrol Forces 1990 - Present

Patrol Coastal Ships

Built for Naval Special Warfare — small, fast patrol ships designed to deliver and support SEAL operations in littoral waters. Fourteen ships originally assigned to Special Boat Teams, later transferred to conventional Navy forces for patrol duties in the Persian Gulf. Cyclone-class ships have maintained a continuous presence in the Fifth Fleet AOR since 2003, boarding dhows, escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, and conducting maritime security operations. Most have been transferred to allied navies or decommissioned as the Navy transitions to unmanned platforms. Read more

Explore Collection

Mark VI Patrol Boat

Coastal Riverine Force

The current coastal patrol boat of the Coastal Riverine Force. Eighty-five feet of aluminum hull with 25mm chain guns, M240 machine guns, and a stern ramp for rigid-hull inflatable boats. Mark VIs provide harbor security, high-value asset escort, and coastal patrol in forward-deployed areas. They've operated in the Persian Gulf, Western Pacific, and Baltic Sea. Crewed by Coastal Riverine squadrons — the inheritors of the Vietnam-era Brown Water Navy tradition. Read more

Explore Collection

Unmanned Surface Vessels

The Robotic Patrol Force

Task Force 59, stood up in Fifth Fleet in 2021, is redefining patrol operations with unmanned surface vessels. Saildrone Explorers — wind-powered autonomous vessels with cameras, radar, and AIS — patrol the Persian Gulf continuously without crews, sleep, or fuel. The MANTAS T-38 Devil Ray adds speed and sensor capability. The Navy's vision: a mesh network of unmanned platforms conducting persistent surveillance across vast ocean areas that manned patrol ships can't cover. The patrol mission that started with PT boats is going robotic. Read more

Explore Collection

2,000+

Boats Built

15+

Classes

85+

Years Patrolling

Patrol

Every Waterway