USS Douglas

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 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	1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber gun 1 × Bofors 40 mm gun mount 2 × twin .50 caliber machine guns
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]