[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by Skip Newsom

If you drive 401 West along the mighty Columbia to 1.7 miles prior to the Astoria bridge that crosses into Oregon you will plainly see the USS Plainview, or what's left of her.

220- long, 40' beam hydrofoil that was a test bed for the Navy from March 1969 to September 1978.
Two big Diesels and 2 × 14,000 hp (10,440 kW) General Electric LM1500 free-turbine turboshaft engines.

40 Knots on her foils.
Lockheed, Boeing, GE all designed and built bits of it.
Wiki sez:
She "carried out long range experimental programs to evaluate the design principles of hydrofoils and to develop and evaluate tactics and doctrine for hydrofoils, particularly in anti-submarine warfare, and helped to determine the feasibility of hydrofoil operations in high seas."

She's looking sad and forlorn sittin in the mud of the Columbia, sold off for scrap years ago- Department of ecology is getting tired of it...

Awesome story with a very sad ending [emoji22]…. Hate to see her rotting away like that. Found some good videos on the program but I haven’t had success in embedding a link properly







A gaggle of quail