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NavSource Online:
Motor Gunboat / Patrol Gunboat Photo Archive

Left patch courtesy of the Patrol Gunboat Association and right patch courtesy of Mike Smolinski

Surprise (PG 97)
ex-PGM-97


Surprise served the Navies of the United States and Turkey.



Bora call sign:
Tango - Bravo - November - Lima

Asheville Class Gunboat: Laid down 24 May 1968 as PGM-97 at Peterson Builders Inc., Sturgeon Bay, Wisc; Launched, 7 December 1968; Commissioned USS Surprise (PG-97), 17 October 1969; at Boston, MA; Decommissioned 28 February 1973 at Izmir, Turkey and transferred to the Turkish Navy as Bora (P 339); Struck from the Navy Register 8 August 1987. Fate unknown.

Specifications: Displacement 250 t.; Length 165'; Beam 24'; Speed 40k; Armament one 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, one 40mm gun mount, two twin .50 cal. machine guns; Propulsion geared diesel engines and gas turbine,
two shafts.


Click on thumbnail
for full size image
Size Image Description Source
Surprise 139k - Patrol Gunboat Association
Terry W. McManuels, ETCM(SW), Ret.
Surprise 119k c. 1969 David Buell

View the Surprise (PG 97)
DANFS history entry located on the Naval Historical Center web site.
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Patrol Gunboat Association
Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Patrol Craft/Gunboat/Submarine Chaser Index Back to the Motor Gunboat (PGM) Photo Index

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