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USS ''Tacoma'' (PGM-92/PG-92) was an 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.〔For example, see: 〕 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. ==1969-1970== During the fall of 1969, ''Tacoma'' conducted shakedown training and independent ship exercises along the California coast. While so engaged on 16 October, she joined in a search and rescue mission and recovered a sailor who had fallen overboard from USS ''Neches'' (AO-47) the previous night. At the completion of refresher training, she participated in amphibious exercise PHIBELEX/BLT 4-69, off Camp Pendleton, Calif., in early December. In January 1970, she entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard for post-shakedown availability. ''Tacoma'' returned to San Diego on 20 May and began preparations for deployment to the western Pacific. On 1 August, after two months of operations out of San Diego, she got underway for the Mariana Islands. Following a week-long stopover in Pearl Harbor, the gunboat arrived in her new home port, Apra, Guam, on 28 August. For almost four years, ''Tacoma'' alternated between deployments to Vietnam and patrols in the islands of the Trust Territories of Micronesia. Her first tour of duty in Vietnamese waters began on 28 September 1970 when she arrived at Cam Ranh Bay after a week of upkeep at Subic Bay in the Philippines. She was assigned to the Coastal Surveillance Force and participated in search and rescue missions and interdicted communist coastal supply traffic in Operation "Market Time". On 22 November, she and several other units of the Coastal Surveillance Force cooperated in the destruction of a North Vietnamese infiltration trawler. She operated off the coast of Vietnam for two more months and then returned to Subic Bay on 31 January 1971. She remained there two weeks and then headed for Guam, arriving in Apra Harbor on 20 February. ''Tacoma'' earned two battle stars during the Vietnam War. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「USS Tacoma (PGM-92)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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