USS High Point

High Point was the first of a series of hydrofoil craft designed to evaluate the performance of hydrofoils for the U.S. Navy. The design of High Point began in April 1958 under project SCB 202.Friedman, Small Combatants, pp. 212 She had three submerged foils containing propulsion nacelles and propellers, and was also capable of riding on her hull like a more conventional ship.

High Point was launched on 17 August 1962 by J. M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corporation in Tacoma, Washington as a sub-contractor to Boeing in Seattle, Washington, at a cost of $2.08 million,{{cite web |last=Profita |first=Cassandra |title=Ship's legacy could rise again |url=http://www.dailyastorian.com/20091215/ships-legacy-could-rise-again |newspaper=The Daily Astorian |date=15 December 2009}} together with Vickers, Inc. Marine and Ordnance Department in Waterbury, Connecticut, which provided hydraulic components and controls.[https://archive.org/stream/Aviation_Week_1963-02-18#page/n9/mode/1up The spectacular Navy Hydrofoil will depend on Vickers Hydraulics]. // Aviation Week & Space Technology, 18 February 1963, v. 78, no. 7, p. 18. Electronic equipment aboard, including automatic stabilization equipment and a dead reckoning navigation system, was developed and manufactured by the United Aircraft Corporation Hamilton Standard Division.[https://archive.org/stream/Aviation_Week_1963-05-20#page/n62/mode/1up In hydrofoils…] // Aviation Week & Space Technology, 20 May 1963, v. 78, no. 20, p. 127. She was commissioned on 15 August 1963 with Lieutenant H. G. Billerbeck in charge. She was named after High Point, North Carolina.

Hugh Point carried out tests in Puget Sound from 1963 to 1967. On her foils, she obtained very high speeds, and the U.S. Navy evaluated her for mobility and flexibility as an antisubmarine warfare vessel. The U.S. Navy decommissioned her in March 1975.

On 4 April 1975, the U.S. Navy transferred High Point to the United States Coast Guard, which acquired her to evaluate hydrofoil characteristics for use in law enforcement, search and rescue, and marine environmental protection missions. After a first round of tests in Puget Sound, the Coast Guard transferred her to San Francisco, California. While she was attempting to moor at Naval Station Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, her turbine exploded. The $300,000 cost of repair was not in the Coast Guard budget, so the Coast Guard decommissioned her on 5 May 1975 and transferred her back to the U.S. Navy.

High Point was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register sometime in 1980. A private owner intent on restoring her purchased her in 2002, but the effort did not succeed. In 2005 Terence Orme purchased her to save her from being scrapped. By 2009, she was moored at Tongue Point near Astoria, Oregon, where volunteers were restoring the vessel for use as a museum. These efforts were abandoned. In 2021, a private individual purchased High Point and began to restore her at Astoria with the goal of making her seaworthy once again.{{cite news |title=The Navy's USS High Point was abandoned. A Charleston man hopes to bring it back to life |url=https://www.postandcourier.com/news/the-navys-uss-high-point-was-abandoned-a-charleston-man-hopes-to-bring-it-back/article_9ed6c200-55c1-11eb-9b26-ab25366b15d3.html |first=Thomas |last=Novelly |newspaper=The Post and Courier |date=14 January 2021}}

When corrosion was found below her waterline, USS High Point was scrapped in August of 2023.{{cite web |title=U.S. Navy's 1st Hydrofoil Scrapped in Astoria |url=https://pacmar.com/article/u-s-navys-1st-hydrofoil-scrapped-in-astoria/ |website=Pacific Maritime Magazine |publisher=Maritime Publishing |access-date=22 September 2024}}

{{reflist}}

• {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h6/high_point.htm}}
• {{Naval Vessel Register|{{Naval Vessel Register URL|id=PCH1}}}}
• {{cite book |last=Friedman|first=Norman |title=U.S. Small Combatants: An Illustrated Design History |publisher=United States Naval Institute |year=1987|location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=978-0870217135}}

{{commons category|USS High Point (PCH-1)}}

• {{navsource|12/0601|USS High Point}}
• {{cite web |url=http://www.navalhistory.org/2012/08/17/uss-high-point-the-navys-first-hydrofoil-patrol-craft |title=USS High Point: The Navy's First Hydrofoil Patrol Craft

|date=17 August 2012 |website=Naval History Blog |publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command {{!}} United States Naval Institute}}

• {{cite web |url=http://rpstander.tripod.com/ |title=High Point PCH-1}} (2002 website of past owner)
• {{cite web |url=http://www.foils.org/gallery/usn.htm |title=High Point Photos |access-date=11 June 2015 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924014147/http://www.foils.org/gallery/usn.htm |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite AV media |url=http://www.movietone.com/assets/BMN0331/wmv/BMN_88585_3.wmv |format=wmv |medium=Video |title=Boeing – Navy Hydrofoil – Mute |website=British Movietone Digital Archive}}

{{coord|46.198616|-123.759163|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:High Point (PCH-1)}}

Category:Cold War patrol vessels of the United States

Category:Boeing hydrofoils

Category:Ships built in Tacoma, Washington

Category:Ships of the United States Coast Guard

Category:1962 ships

Category:Hydrofoils of the United States