USS Pegasus (PHM-1) was the lead ship of her class of hydrofoils operated by the United States Navy.

SECNAV Notice 5030 originally gave the ship the name Delphinus after a small constellation in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, on 15 February 1974.

As this vessel was constructed several years before the rest of the class, there are some minor differences, notably in the fire-control systems of the respective craft.

They never participated in a major naval mission and remained relegated to Caribbean deployments during their service life [4] The PHM project was started in early 1970, by CNO Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, in an effort to increase the Navy's number of surface combatants.

These missions included surface surveillance as well as immediate responses such as surface-to-surface missiles (SSM) to any hostile actions conducted by enemy navies.