USS Cyclone ( PC - 1 ) USS " Cyclone " ( PC - 1 ) was the first of the Navy ' s " Cyclone " class coastal patrol ships . As the lead ship of her class , " Cyclone " served as the test bed for this series of 14 vessels . She was laid down at Bollinger Shipyards , in Lockport , Louisiana , on 22 June 1990 , launched on 1 February 1992 , and commissioned on 7 August 1993 . Ship ' s History . The primary mission of " Cyclone " was to serve as a platform for conducting maritime special operations , including interdiction , escort , noncombatant evacuation , reconnaissance , operational deception , intelligence collection , and tactical swimmer operations . Her small size , stealthy construction and high speed were tailored to performing long - range Special Operations Forces ( SOF ) insertion and extraction as well as other SOF support duties as needed . The ship ' s operational capabilities were designed to meet the unique requirements of its Special Warfare missions . Operationally , " Cyclone " was capable of accelerating from stop to in under three minutes , then move from full ahead to astern in 60 seconds . In high - speed , hard - over turns , the ship barely heeled as the automatic stabilizers engaged . Originally armed with two Mk38 25 mm chain guns fore and aft , several pintle mounts for attaching . 50 caliber machine guns or Mk 19 grenade launcher s , and a position for launching Stinger shoulder - fired SAMs , the " Cyclone " , along with others of her class , were upgraded early on by replacing the after Mk38 mount with the new Mk96 platform . The Mk96 combines both a 25 mm chain gun and a 40 mm grenade launcher on a single stabilized platform . The Mk96 features an electro - optical fire control system with 27x zoom , infrared and low - light modes , a laser rangefinder , and an array of environmental sensors , which feed data into the ballistics computer to produce an accurate firing solution even while maneuvering at high speed . The computer can also interface with the Stinger SAMs carried on board . The Navy was positive about the performance of the Mk96 and briefly considered up - gunning the 25 mm Bushmaster cannon to a 30 mm or even 35 mm cannon , but due to the high price this never came to pass . Decommissioning and transfer . As good a design as it is , " Cyclone " had barely gone into service in the mid - 1990s when the Special Operations Command rejected them as too big for commando missions , and the regular surface Navy dismissed them as too small for any of its missions . The Navy began looking for ways to phase out " Cyclone " and her sister ships , so on 28 February 2000 , " Cyclone " was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy list . She was then transferred to the United States Coast Guard the next day , being re - commissioned as the USCGC " Cyclone " ( WPC 1 ) . The Coast Guard lacked an effective vessel sized between its 110 ' patrol cutter and the 210 ' Medium Endurance Cutter , so there was considerable interest in " Cyclone " at first . However , her high operating costs were prohibitive and thus she sat largely inactive . Transferred . " USS Cyclone ( PC - 1 ) " was eventually sold under the Foreign Military Sales Program to the Philippine Navy on 8 March 2004 , as part of a US military aid package to the Philippines , in an effort to bolster interdiction and counterterrorism capabilities . She was rechristened BRP " Mariano Alvarez " ( PS - 38 ) , in honor of a revolutionary general in the Philippine war of independence against Spain .