View of PG-96, the USS Benicia, on launch date of December 20, 1969. The Benicia, the second US Navy ship to bear the name and named after the city of Benicia, California, was launched at Tacoma Boatbuilding's new plant on the Hylebos on December 20, 1969. The 165-foot gunboat had a 24-foot beam and could reach speeds of 40k. She would be commissioned on April 20, 1970 and decommissioned on October 2, 1971. After service in the South Korean navy, the ship was struck from the Naval Register on August 30, 1996, decommissioned and scrapped. Photograph ordered by Tacoma Boatbuilding. (TNT 12-21-69, A-4; www.navsource.org/archives)

Launchings--Tacoma--1960-1970; Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1960-1970; Gunboats--United States; Tacoma Boat Building Co., Inc. (Tacoma);