PTF-26, nicknamed "The Last American PT Boat," is a historic Osprey-class fast patrol boat built for the U.S. Navy in 1968 by Sewart Seacraft. Measuring 95 feet in length, this heavily armed, aluminum-hulled coastal gunboat represents the Vietnam War-era evolution of the famous World War II Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats. Delivered to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) in Da Nang in 1968, PTF-26 operated in the "brown-water" riverine environments and coastal waters of Vietnam. Powered by twin Napier Deltic diesel engines, the craft could reach speeds up to 40 knots and was armed with a formidable array of weapons—including a 40 mm Bofors cannon, 20 mm cannons, .50-caliber machine guns, and an 81 mm mortar—to conduct hit-and-run raids, intelligence gathering, and special forces insertions.
After returning to the United States in 1971, PTF-26 continued to serve the Navy for patrol, training, and equipment testing out of Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and the Pacific Missile Test Center until she was decommissioned in 1990. Following a long stint as a Sea Scout training ship in Sacramento, California, the historic vessel was acquired by the Maritime Pastoral Training Foundation. After an extensive journey through the U.S. inland waterways, PTF-26 arrived at her permanent homeport in Golconda, Illinois. Today, she serves as a unique floating museum and the first historic naval ship in southern Illinois, where she is actively used to train Navy JROTC cadets, Sea Cadets, and Sea Scouts, preserving a vital chapter of modern naval special warfare history.