Cyclone-class patrol ship

. leads six ships of Patrol Coastal Squadron 1 in the Persian Gulf, March 2015. passing the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in Virginia, USA. This starboard side view shows the vessel's splinter camouflage scheme. In the 1980s, the U.S. Navy developed a requirement for a replacement for the Vietnam War-era PB Mk III small () patrol boats used to transport SEAL teams. The first attempt to replace the PB Mk IIIs led to an order being placed in 1984 for a stealthy surface effect ship, the Special Warfare Craft, Medium, or SWCM, with a length of about and a displacement of . The SWCM, nicknamed "Sea Viking", was a failure, however, and construction of the prototype was abandoned in 1987. After the failure of the innovative SWCM, it was decided to replace the PB Mk IIIs with a simple development of an existing design rather than wait for an entirely new design to be produced and developed. Bollinger Shipyards proposed a development of the Vosper Thornycroft built for Oman and Kenya, and this was selected by the U.S. Navy. ==Operational career==

Following the 2003 occupation of Iraq, the Cyclone-class boats were deployed to guard Iraq's offshore oil terminal. When Iraq took over responsibility for the terminal's defense, in 2005, ten of the Cyclone-class boats remained in the Persian Gulf, performing other patrol duties from its base in Manama, Bahrain. The U.S. Navy decommissioned the last two Cyclone-class patrol coastal ships stationed at Naval Support Activity Bahrain on 28 March 2023. ==Ships in class==

Zephyr, Shamal, and Tornado were homeported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek (Virginia) but shifted homeport to Naval Station Mayport (Florida) All three were decommissioned in February 2021. Zephyr and Shamal are set to be scrapped while Tornado will be made available for sale to a foreign military. ==Users==

Current • (5) • (3) • (3) Former • (14) • (6 on loan) ==See also==