Patrol Craft Fast
![Swift Boat PCF-71 in Vietnam, showing forward twin .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns directed upward in their secured position.](/Images/godic/202501/12/Swift_Boat_Owasco_PCF714131.jpg")
![Swift boats on patrol lead a group of monitors and armored landing craft.](/Images/godic/202501/12/Fast_Patrol_Craft_operating_up_a_river4131.jpg")
![Four Swift Boats in Vietnam, showing rear mounted over/under .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine gun and breech-loading mortar](/Images/godic/202501/12/Four_Swift_Boats4132.jpg")
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Patrol Craft Fast (PCF), also known as Swift Boats, were all-aluminum, 50-foot (15 m) long, shallow-draft vessels operated by the United States Navy, initially to patrol the coastal areas and later for work in the interior waterways as part of the brown-water navy to interdict Vietcong movement of arms and munitions, transport Vietnamese forces and insert SEAL teams for counterinsurgency (COIN) operations during the Vietnam War.