USS Douglas (PGM-100)

USS Douglas (PG-100) was an Asheville-class gunboat which served in the United States Navy from 1971 to 1977.

USS Douglas (PG-100), circa 1974
History
United States
Name: USS Douglas (PG-100)
Builder: Tacoma Boatbuilding Company
Launched: 19 June 1970
Commissioned: 6 February 1971
Decommissioned: 1 October 1977
Fate: Transferred to Naval Sea Systems Command as R/V Lauren
Status: sunk as target 30 April 2008
General characteristics
Class and type: Asheville-class gunboat
Displacement: 245 tons
Length: 164 ft 6 in
Beam: 23 ft 11 in
Draft: 5 ft 4 in
Speed: 40 kts
Complement: 24
Armament:
Notes: 40 mm gun replaced with two Standard Anti-Radiation Missiles in boxed launchers.

Douglas was constructed by Tacoma Boatbuilding Co., of Tacoma, Washington. She was launched on 19 June 1970 and commissioned as USS Douglas (PG-100) on 6 February 1971.[1]

She spent the bulk of her career based in Naples, Italy, as part of a squadron of missile-armed gunboats participating in US and NATO exercises and operations in the Mediterranean. She and the rest of the squadron were decommissioned on 1 October 1977 at Little Creek, Virginia.[2]

She was stricken from the Navy Register on 1 October 1977 and was transferred to the David Taylor Naval Research and Development Center at Annapolis, Maryland. She was then converted to a Research Vessel, renamed R/V Lauren and operated with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City near Panama City, Florida.[2]

Lauren was sunk on a sandbank, off the coast of North Carolina, on 30 April 2008 for use as a target for fighter pilots from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina.[3]

References
  1. "DOUGLAS (PG 100)(ex-PGM 100) PATROL COMBATANT". Naval Vessel Register. Naval Sea Systems Command. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  2. "Douglas (PG-100)". Motor Gunboat/Patrol Gunboat Photo Archive. Navsource Online. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  3. Talton, Trista. "EOD Marines sink former gunboat Douglas". Navy Times. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
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