US Navy Patrol Boats

The Hampton Roads Pilot has an article about the US Navy's mid sized patrol craft which are used to patrol the Persian Gulf.

Pierside, the 170-foot patrol crafts cut a sleek and imposing profile, with several gun mounts and twin .50-caliber guns on either side. The ships were originally designed to carry Navy SEALs into coastal water and rivers, but the special warfare community replaced them about 10 years ago.

On the verge of Navy extinction, they found new life after 9/11. Since early in the Iraq war, the squadron has been part of a task force guarding Iraq's two major offshore oil platforms, which provide roughly 90 percent of the country's income.