I recently featured a photograph of a 1/1200th-scale model of a Barnegat-class small seaplane tender. It spurred me to do some research into the class ... and it turned out to be an interesting task.
The US Navy originally ordered forty-one Barnegat-class ships and thirty-five of them were built. Of these, thirty were completed as small seaplane tenders, four were used as motor torpedo boat/patrol torpedo boat tenders, and one was fitted with a catapult and used as a catapult training ship.
USS Casco (AVP-12).
After the end of World War II they were surplus to the US Navy’s requirements, but as they had been constructed to a high standard, they had a lot of potential life remaining. As a result, after they had been decommissioned, they were repurposed. Eighteen became US Coastguard cutters (the Casco-class), others became survey ships, and three were sold into Greek merchant service where they became passenger vessels. By the time the last of the class was decommissioned in 1993, ships of the class had served in the navies of the United States, Ethiopia, Greece, Italy, Norway, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
USCGC Bering Strait (WAVP-382).
The class’s characteristics were:
- Displacement: 2,040 tons standard/2,551 tons full load
- Dimensions:
- Length: 310ft 9in (94.72m)
- Beam: 41ft 1in (12.52m)
- Draught: 12ft 5in (3.78m)
- Propulsion: 2 x diesel engines (6,000 to 6,080 hp) driving two propellers
- Speed: 20 knots
- Range 6,000 nautical miles at 12 knots
- Complement: 215 (ship's company); 367 (including aviation unit); 138 (Coastguard personnel)
- Armament:
- As designed: 2 × 5-inch (127mm) (2 x 1) guns
- Assigned in 1942; 4 × 5-inch (127mm) (4 x 1) guns; 8 × 20mm (8 x 1) anti-aircraft guns; 2 × depth charge racks
- By 1944: Either 2 × 5-inch (127mm) (2 x 1) guns; 4 × 20 (4 x 1) mm anti-aircraft guns or 1 × 5-inch (127mm) gun; 8 × 40mm (1 x 4 & 2 x 2 ) anti-aircraft guns; 6 × 20mm (6 x 1) anti-aircraft guns
- As a Coastguard cutter: 1 × 5-inch (127mm) gun; 1 x Mk.10 (Hedgehog) anti-submarine projector
Interesting. I didn't actually know the The Norwegian Navy had any ships in this class. Thanks for sharing this information. It made me search for more information about it.
ReplyDeleteRoger,
DeleteUSS Gardiners Bay (AVP-39) was transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1958, where she served as the cadet training ship HNoMS Haakon VII (A537) until she was stricken in 1974.
All the best,
Bob
I also discovered that the Norwegian Navy operated another former WW2 American ship named 'King Haakon VII'. It was a PC Class Escort ship. The Commando was struck just the year before USS Gardiners Bay entered Norwegian service under the name 'Haakon VII'.
DeleteBefore being elected to The King, Haakon VII was actually serving in the Danish Navy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNoMS_King_Haakon_VII
Roger,
DeleteI did not know that! Thanks for sharing that information.
The PC-class escort ships were effective in the role for which they were designed, but I cannot understand why someone thought it was a suitable ocean escort. It rather mirrors the British Flower-class corvettes, which were designed to be coastal escorts that ended up being used a ocean escorts. Mind you, the British design was based on a whale-catcher that could operate in heavy seas, unlike the PC-class, which had a much higher length to beam ratio (7.5 to 1). (The corvettes had a 6.3 to 1 ratio.)
all the best,
Bob