USS PTF-17 (Buffalo, New York)

USA / New York / Buffalo / Buffalo, New York
 museum, military, boat, display, United States Navy
USS PTF-17 is a Tjeld Class Patrol Boat, a Norweigan design built under license by John Trumpy and Sons at Annapolis, Maryland. Designated as a Patrol Craft Fast, or PTF, she is larger and more heavily armed than the PT Boats of WWII, and was designed with guns as her primary armament, rather than torpedoes. Laid down in early 1968 and commissioned into Navy service later that year, PTF-17 and her crew were deployed to Vietnam along with their five sisterships.

Beginning river patrols in the Mekong Delta and along the coastline around DaNang, PTF-17 and her fellow PTF's operated against NVA and Viet-Cong insurgent groups for the next three years, often being involved in surprise attacks and pitched firefights. Withdrawn from Vietnam in 1972 as combat operations were turned over to the South Vietnamese, PTF-17 was eventually relocated to Chicago, IL where she began service with Coastal River Division 21 in August 1972.

Operating out of Naval Station Great Lakes for the next four years, PTF-17, her sisterships PTF-18 & PTF-19 trained US Navy recruits on small boat operations, tactics and weaponry in Lake Michigan. Changing Naval doctrine in the 1970's led to less interest in brown water and littoral capabilities in favor of blue-water operations, and in 1976 the Navy ordered Coastal River Division 21 deactivated.

PTF-17 stood out of Chicago for Little Creek, VA where she briefly operated before she decommissioned in 1979. Given her history on the Great Lakes, PTF-17 was offered to the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park for preservation and is presently on display. As of 2011, she is under extensive topside and hull restoration by park volunteers.

www.buffalonavalpark.org/PTF-17.html
www.ptfnasty.com/gallery/galPtf17.htm
www.ptfnasty.com/CRD21.htm
www.hnsa.org/doc/boatcat/cat-0143.htm
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tjeld_class_patrol_boat#US_Navy
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   42°52'39"N   78°52'48"W

Comments

  • Many mistakes in this article. There is no such designator "USS PTF-xxx" They were not commissioned US Navy ships. PTF stands for Patrol Torpedo Fast. PTF-17 or any other US Navy PTF's were not Tjeld Class boats, that is a Norwegian designation for the hull type. The US Navy boats were Nasty, Trumpy or Osprey Class depending upon the hull number. The PTF's never operated in delta or riverine environments in Vietnam, they operated primarily north of the DMZ in the Tonkin Gulf. While at Great Lakes they did not train "US Navy recruits", CRD-21 trained active duty and reservist crews.
This article was last modified 10 years ago