Remembering The Time When The U.S. Navy Had Hydrofoil Ships

Popular Mechanics: When the U.S. Navy Had Tiny Hot Rods That Flew Over the Sea

The Pegasus class hydrofoils were a ship in search of a mission.

In the early 1970s, with the Vietnam War winding down, the U.S. Navy worried about how to keep its fleet effective during the inevitable budget drawdown at war's end. Their innovative solution: build small, fast ships that could, thanks to new technologies of the time, tackle the missions once performed by much larger ships.

The Navy had studied hydrofoil ship concepts for two decades. Hydrofoils were large joined wings that lifted the ship into the air, above the water, at high speeds. Mostly free of the drag imposed by sitting in liquid, a hydrofoil ship could go much faster than an ordinary vessel. (They're used today in boat races like the America's Cup.)

WNU Editor: These ships were definitely built for speed.