USS Tucumcari
Contents
Description
The USS Tucumcari (PGH-2) is a rank IV American motor gun boat with a battle rating of 3.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.79 "Project X" as part of the fleet closed beta test.
The Patrol Gunboat Hydrofoil Tucumcari (PGH-2) was built for operation by the Navy at a cost of $4 million by Boeing with subcontractor. She was unique at time by using water-jet propulsion instead of a propeller in water, the water intake being at the base of rear foils, pushed though a jet turbine engine powered pump, and exiting under the hull. When in shallow water or coming to port, the three hydrofoils would fold up and a small engine powered propeller with be used for manoeuvring. She was the basis for the Sparviero-class and PG 02 hydrofoil patrol boats.
Armament is typical of PT boats, being common 40 mm bofors and Browning machine guns.
General info
Survivability and armour
The PGH-2 lacks armour, and the ammunition for the 40 mm Bofors gun is exposed, not to mention that they aren't armoured, so they can be hit easily.
The gunners are all exposed, so be careful not to let them get hit. She is also a small boat and small crew, and at full speed is well above the water making for a larger target.
Mobility
PGH-2 is a hydrofoil, naturally she is quite fast, but far from the fastest in game. She has a good turn radius but in doing so loses speed very fast. Fortunately, acceleration is excellent and stopping is acceptable, though doing S turns will rapidly slow you down. The biggest downside is shallow water obstacles, at slow speed she will frequently hit land, or sunken ships.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 122 | 17 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 91 | 13 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
The 40 mm Bofors is your main armament and a powerful one at that. The single Bofors cannons is in the bow with approximately 300 degrees of arc on horizontal plane. The cannons become almost ineffective at ranges above 2 km (1.25 mi). Continuous firing will diminish the precision of rounds, and could cause the cannon to overheat, needing a long cooldown.
| 40 mm Bofors L/60 Mark 3 (x1) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical Guidance | Horizontal Guidance | Vertical Targeting Speed | Horizontal Targeting Speed | Ammo Capacity (Belt Capacity) | Rate of Fire (Rounds/Min) | ||
| -10°/+85° | ±180° | 30°/s | 24°/s | 2200 (n/a) | 160 | ||
- Available Ammunition
- Universal: AP-T/HEFI-T (The Universal belt is the starting of ammunition, it's pretty much good against anything but it may not be too good against armoured gunboats.)
- 40mm HE clips: HEFI-T/HEFI-T/HEFI-T/AP-T (The HE clips is good against boats with little armour and planes, still effective against small destroyers)
- 40mm AP clips: AP-T/AP-T/AP-T/HEFI-T (The AP clips is better suited to go against armoured gunboats and damaging larger ships)
Secondary armament
The AN- M2 machine guns can fire until they run out of ammo, overall these are mostly used against smaller boats and planes, mostly ineffective at ranges above 1 km (0.62 mi).
- Available Ammunition
- Universal: API-T/AP/I/AP
- .50 AP belt: API-T/AP/AP/AP
- .50APIT belt: API-T/API-T/API-T/I
Anti-aircraft armament
| 81 mm Mk 2 Mortar (x1) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical Guidance | Horizontal Guidance | Vertical Targeting Speed | Horizontal Targeting Speed | Ammo Capacity (Belt Capacity) | Rate of Fire (Rounds/Min) | ||
| -5°/+40° | ±180° | 45°/s | 20°/s | 100 (N/A) | 18 | ||
Usage in battles
The Tucumcari is the fastest boat in the USN, so she is good for one thing, capping distant points. While powerful, the 40 mm bofors is not enough to take down destroyers, but be bigger target for them. She will need to take special tactics to do well, but can be a match winning units, so keep handy. Your biggest threat is other rapid fire boats, less from slow firing ships over 4,000 m.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Good top speed overall, best in USN
- Has a powerful 40 mm gun
- Good manoeuvrability
Cons:
- Overall armament is rather light compared to others with lower BR
- As with any hydrofoil when at top speed the hull rises, making her a bigger target
- Very light anti-aircraft armament for BR, allowing planes to get really close to her before dropping their ordnance
History
The USS Tucumcari, named after the city in New Mexico, was a hydrofoil boat developed by the Boeing company in the late 1960s to test a decade's worth of hydrofoil research and development. She was a true state-of-the-art ship, sporting the latest in hydrofoil technology, electronics and a powerful gas turbine engine. All of this granted the ship an excellent top speed and maneuverability, whilst also allowing it to seamlessly traverse even rough waters. USS Tucumcari was delivered and commissioned to the U.S. Navy in March 1968.
In her early service life, Tucumcari was thoroughly tested in the Pacific waters off the American west coast, performing various patrol missions and taking part in fleet exercises. Following this, the ship was sent on its first combat missions to Vietnam, taking part in Operation Market Time. There, Tucumcari managed to successfully prove her effectiveness in combat conditions with positive remarks on her performance.
After her return to the United States in 1970, she was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet before being sent off on a European demonstration tour in 1971. Throughout the tour, USS Tucumcari visited several European (NATO) countries including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Greece and Turkey, in an effort to demonstrate the capability of hydrofoil propulsion to other NATO members.
USS Tucumcari returned to the States once more in October 1971 and resumed with, among others, coastal patrol duties with the U.S. Coast Guard. In November 1972 however, the ship was severely damaged after running aground on a coral reef at full speed during a simulated combat mission off the coast of Puerto Rico. Due to the excessive damage, it was deemed uneconomical to recover and repair the ship. Thus, USS Tucumcari was struck off the Naval Register in November 1973 and was subsequently taken apart for scraps.
- From Devblog
The USN's success with the Tucumcari was noticed by the Italians, and used the hydrofoil layout of the former as the bases for their new Sparviero-class patrol boat. Although they look similar at a glance, it is mainly limited to just the hydrofoils and water jet propulsion, the rest of the hull was unique design. The Japanese in turn were interested and purchased 3 of the Sparviero's but changed the armaments, in game as the PG 02.
Media
See also
External links
| Marine Branch, Boeing | |
|---|---|
| Gunboats | |
| Patrol Combatant, Hydrofoil (PGH) | USS Tucumcari |
| See Also | For Boeing-built aircraft, see Boeing Aircraft |
| USA boats | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | PT-3 · PT-6 · PT-20 · PT-71 · PT-103 · PT-109 · PT-174 |
| PT-200 · PT-314 · Thunderbolt (PT-556) · PT-565 · PT-658 · PT-810 · PT-811 · PT-812 | |
| Motor gun boats | Kim Qui · LCS(L)(3) · PT-59 · PTF-7 · USS Candid · USS Asheville · USS Douglas · USS Flagstaff · USS Tucumcari · USS Cyclone |
| Armoured gun boats | LCM(6) Zippo |
