USS Aries (PHM-5) was the fifth ship of her class

Pegasus class hydrofoil

The Pegasus-class hydrofoils were a series of fast attack patrol boats employed by the U.S. Navy. They were in service from 1977 through 1993...

 of hydrofoil

Hydrofoil

A hydrofoil is a foil which operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to airfoils.Hydrofoils can be artificial, such as the rudder or keel on a boat, the diving planes on a submarine, a surfboard fin, or occur naturally, as with fish fins, the flippers of aquatic mammals, the...

s operated by the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. Pegasus class vessels were designed for high speed and mobility, and carried a powerful (for their size) armament. Aries was named for the constellation

Aries (constellation)

Aries is one of the constellations of the zodiac, located between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. Its name is Latin for ram, and its symbol is , representing a ram's horns...

.

Aries was laid down on 7 January 1980 at Renton

Renton, Washington

Renton is an Eastside edge city in King County, Washington, United States. Situated 11 miles southeast of Seattle, Washington, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington. Founded in the 1860s, Renton became a supply town for the Newcastle coal fields...

, Seattle, Washington, by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems

Boeing Integrated Defense Systems

Boeing Defense, Space & Security formerly known as Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a unit of The Boeing Company responsible for defense and aerospace products and services. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems was formed in 2002 by combining the former "Military Aircraft and Missile Systems"...

, launched on 5 November 1981, sponsored by Mrs. Earl B. Fowler, the wife of Vice Admiral Earl B. Fowler, Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command

Naval Sea Systems Command

The Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the U.S. Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel organizations...

, and was commissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington...

 on 18 September 1982, Lieutenant Commander Carl E. Weiscopf in command.

Service history

Aries operated in Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

 until 23 November 1982 when she got underway for Key West

Key West

Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, her assigned home port. She made calls at San Francisco and San Diego on her way down the California coast. The guided-missile hydrofoil gunboat transited the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 on 11 December and arrived in Key West on the 15th. After the holidays, the warship began operations from her base. Acceptance trials came late in January 1983, and, in February, she carried out her first law enforcement operation against drug smugglers in cooperation with the Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

. March and April brought training duty out of Key West and two more missions assisting the Coast Guard in its efforts to stem the flow of illegal drugs

Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...

 into the United States. In each instance, Aries embarked a detachment

Law Enforcement Detachments

Law Enforcement Detachments or LEDETs are specialized, deployable maritime law enforcement teams of the United States Coast Guard. First established in 1982, their primary mission is to deploy aboard U.S. and allied naval vessels to conduct and support law enforcement, interdiction, or security...

 of Coast Guardsmen and carried out the assignment under the operational control of the Commandant, Coast Guard District 7, based at Miami, Florida. Early in May, she entered the yard at Atlantic Drydock in Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, for six weeks of post-shakedown repairs and modifications. Halfway through June, the guided-missile hydrofoil gunboat returned to Key West and resumed a normal schedule of duty out of her home port. Though the bulk of her operations for the rest of the year consisted of routine training evolutions, tests, and equipment calibrations and checks, Aries participated in another anti-smuggling sweep during the second week in August and visited Nassau

Nassau, Bahamas

Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...

 in the Bahamas

The Bahamas

The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...

 later that month.

Normal duty in the waters near Key West kept Aries busy for the remainder of 1983 and during the first few weeks of 1984. In February 1984, the warship expanded her sphere of operations to include the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 and the east coast of Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

. Late in April, she participated in Exercise "Ocean Venture 84". Aries returned to Key West for normal operations at the end of May and the beginning of June. On 11 June, however, she departed Key West for the waters around Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 to participate in the initial phase of UNITAS

UNITAS

UNITAS are sea exercises and in port training involving several countries in North, South and Central America, conducted by the USA since 1959 in support of the U.S. policy.-External links:* * - Globalsecurity.org...

 XXV, the 1984 edition of the annual series of multilateral exercises carried out with units of various Latin American navies. At the end of June, the guided-missile hydrofoil gunboat proceeded back to Key West to resume normal duty. In August, Aries took part in maneuvers conducted off the east coast of Central America. Back at Key West at the end of August, she began operating again on a training schedule.

The guided-missile hydrofoil gunboat spent the rest of 1984 and the first part of 1985 engaged in operations in the immediate vicinity of Key West. In March, she traveled to Puerto Rico to participate in a readiness exercise, READEX 1-85. More duty out of her home port occupied the warships time in April. At the beginning of May, she voyaged to Onslow Beach

Onslow Beach

Onslow Beach is a 12 km stretch of undeveloped beach at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Onslow County, North Carolina. It has been used at various times for practice amphibious landings by the U.S. Navy. Presently, it is used as a recreational area by the Camp Lejeune community.- External...

, where she took part in Exercise "Solid Shield 85." The middle of June found Aries in the waters near Puerto Rico again for the initial phase of UNITAS XXVI. During July and early August, the warship carried out normal operations from her base at Key West. Her third fleet readiness exercise occupied the last half of August. In September, Aries resumed local operations from Key West and remained so occupied for the rest of 1985.

At the end of the first week in January 1986, she moved to Mayport, Florida

Naval Station Mayport

Naval Station Mayport is a major United States Navy base in Jacksonville, Florida. It contains a military airfield with one asphalt paved runway measuring 8,001 x 200 ft. ....

, for a three-month availability. At the end of April, she proceeded back to Key West whence she operated until late in July. At that time, she embarked upon a cruise that took her to the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 for another UNITAS exercise during which she made port calls at La Guaira

La Guaira

La Guaira is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of Vargas and the country's chief port. It was founded in 1577 as an outlet for Caracas, to the southeast. The town and the port were badly damaged during the December 1999 floods and mudslides that affected much of the region...

, Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

, and at St. Johns, Antigua

St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda

St John's is the capital and largest city of Antigua and Barbuda, a country located in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. St John's is located at...

. Aries returned to Key West on 14 August and carried out local training missions until mid-October. On 14 October, the guided-missile hydrofoil gunboat set sail for Little Creek, Virginia

Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek

The Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek is the major operating base for the Amphibious Forces in the United States Navy's Atlantic Fleet. The base comprises four locations in three states, including almost 12,000 acres of real estate. Its Little Creek location in Virginia Beach, Virginia totals...

, to take part in a special project for the Chief of Naval Operations

Chief of Naval Operations

The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...

. Over the next two months, she divided her time between her home port and operations off the Virginia Capes

Virginia Capes

The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America....

. She concluded her development work for 1986 on 12 December and headed back to Key West on the 16th. Aries reentered her home port on 17 December and spent the remainder of the year in that vicinity.

Aries was decommissioned on 30 July 1993.

USS Aries PHM-5 Hydrofoil Memorial, Inc obtained Aries for rehabilitation as a memorial located on the Grand River

Grand River (Missouri)

The Grand River is a river that stretches from northernmost tributary origins between Creston and Winterset in Iowa approximately to its mouth on the Missouri River near Brunswick, Missouri....

 in Brunswick, Missouri

Brunswick, Missouri

Brunswick is a rural city in Carroll County, Missouri, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. The Missouri Farmers Association was founded here in 1914. Today the city is considered the Pecan Capital of Missouri...

 at 39°25′15"N 93°7′47"W in 1996. However, as of 2010, museum founder Eliot James has said that the museum may not remain in Missouri and that he’ll probably move Aries and the museum south, near the Gulf of Mexico. Dedicated to preserving hydrofoils of all types, the museum is centered around Aries. James, knowing nothing about hydrofoils, bought the 133-foot Aries for scrap in 1996. Finding it in good shape, he sailed from Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

 to Missouri and decided to restore it. He has since added more hydrofoils and hopes to create a national hydrofoil museum, with the vessels moving around under their own power to waterfront festivals and other events. “Our intention is not to just have static displays,” said Eliot. “We’re all about making hydrofoils fly.”

All other PHMs in the class have been scrapped.

External links

• Navysite.de PHM-5 page
• HNSA Web Page: USS Aries
• USS Aries PHM-5 Hydrofoil Memorial, Inc. - Brunswick, Missouri
  Brunswick, Missouri
  Brunswick is a rural city in Carroll County, Missouri, United States. The population was 925 at the 2000 census. The Missouri Farmers Association was founded here in 1914. Today the city is considered the Pecan Capital of Missouri...