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Moving A Classsic

Boat and Yacht Transport is proud to have been selected to transport a part of history. When the "Patrol Craft Fast 24" needed to make a long journey across the US and we were up for the challenge. Our journey of more than 2,700 miles across 11 states took just 5 days to complete, but required the coordination and support of our entire staff to make the move go smoothly and without delays.

The "Swift Boat" or PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) was the forerunner to today's special warfare operations boats. They played a major role in naval coastal interdiction and surveillance operations, riverine warfare and in operations with US Marines and Special Forces Units in the Vietnam War from 1965 – 1970.

The Swift Boats had welded aluminum hulls about 50 feet (15 m) long with 13 ft (4 m) beam, and draft of about five feet (1.5 m). They were powered by a pair of General Motors 12V71"N" Detroit marine diesel engines rated at 480 hp (360 kW) each, with a design range from 320 nautical miles (590 km) at 21 knots (590 km at 39 km/h) to about 750 nautical miles (1,390 km) at 10 knots (1390 km at 19 km/h). The normal complement for a Swift Boat was six: an officer in charge, a boatswain, a radar/radioman, an engineer, and two gunners.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego officially welcomed the P24 to its fleet, with a special ceremony. The swift boat was donated to the museum by the Republic of Malta in 2011, after the vessel was retired from service.