Barnegat class seaplane tenders - A very successful design which went above and beyond

de_Radio_Demon · July 28, 2023, 9:45pm

Would you like to see the Barnegat class seaplane tenders added to the game?

Yes
Maybe
Unsure
No

0 voters

Which refits of the class might you want to see in-game (Remember this may not cover all the refits the class had in USN service)

As built (1941)
1942 (Complete armament)
1942 (Partial armament completion)
1942 (base design)
Mackinac As built (1942)
1943 (Complete armament)
1943 (Partial armament completion)
Coos Bay (1944)
1945 (General configuration)
Motor Torpedo Boat tender version
1946 refit
1952 Version 1
1952 Version 2
1951 Flagship modification (Only applies to Duxbury Bay, Valcour, and Greenwich Bay)
1966 Specialist flagship modification (Valcour only)
Unsure
I said no to the first question

0 voters

Barnegat class seaplane tenders - A very successful design which went above and beyond

Notes:

Spoiler

This suggestion is an updated version of the original suggestions on the old forums, I have decided that instead of just moving over both instead both suggestion I would cover the class through out time with the USN and generally combine the contents of both into one as to not require two separate suggestion were made due to the sheer time these ships were in service. This still does cover not only the seaplane tenders of the class but the other tenders of the class such as the ones that were instead used as motor torpedo boat tenders and so on, however the class will not be covered here in United States coast guard service and instead remain a separate suggestion.
Since the class is made up of 35 ships this suggestion will not go over any specific individual ships history and as such the history will be covered in the background section however a variety of configurations will be included which certain individual ships may have had unlike other ships of the class

Background & History
The Barnegat class seaplane tenders are a class of 35 tenders built for the US navy primarily to serve as the name suggest seaplane tenders, yet the history of the class would see these ships utilized in a variety of roles one would not expect of a seaplane tender as they proved to be excellent vessels as they proved to be excellent designs from the very start and were capable of being used in a variety of other roles.

The ships of the class in service received a wide variety of weapons as they normally armed with 5 inch/38 Mark 12 dual purpose guns however during there careers the number varied as many as 4 to none, likewise the AA armament varied as designed they had 0.50 caliber machine guns however in service they would receive different numbers of 40mm and 20mm cannons and possibly one ship might have been completed with a quad 1.1 inch Chicago piano AA gun mount, these ships would serve a variety of roles which also saw additions of even depth charge racks for anti submarine warfare.

History

Spoiler

The class as a whole has its origins going back to before the second world war. Starting off in the 1930’s the US navy only had a total two large seaplane tenders by the start of the decade plus a number of smaller ships with the number going down to 1 by 1932 in terms of large seaplane tenders, at this point all of the seaplane tenders they had used were only conversions rather than purpose built, as the decade went on the Navy realized the issue they had on hand as with only 1 large seaplane tender currently in service it was clear that something had to be done as the most likely enemy they considered was Japan which would therefore call for operations in the Pacific which would require them to support seaplane operations from undeveloped islands and atolls.

By the later half of the 1930’s the US navy was back up to 2 large seaplane tenders with the conversion of USS Langley in 1937 the US navy would begin to place orders for a series of new seaplane tenders which would all be of purpose built design split into two groups of large and smaller seaplane tenders.

By this point it’s necessary to bring up the classifications of seaplane tenders of the US navy as two separate classifications were made for seaplane tenders between large and small tenders, the former type uses the classification of AV while smaller ships have the classifications of AVP, while not actually necessarily based of the sheer size of the ship the classification was determined by the amount of aircraft the could handle as a large seaplane tender could operations for two whole squadrons of seaplanes while smaller tenders could support operations for just one, though the size difference is consistent with the size difference.

Of the two designs that were ordered starting in the 1930’s the larger tenders would be made up by Curtiss class seaplane tenders alongside the smaller design which would end up being the Barnegat class (since the sources don’t mention if they were all ordered at the same time or more ordered over time I will just talk about the rest of it as if they were all ordered at the same time). In total 41 ships of the Barnegat class were ordered, the logic behind focusing much more on smaller tenders rather than just large ones was the realization that it was not possible to afford as many large seaplane tenders as they would like as their numbers would be limited however going with a smaller design would be much cheaper and provide the necessary numbers of ships they would need, and a smaller design would have less of a draft allowing them to operate in shallower waters than their large contemporaries which was vital for the operation from islands.

The first two ships of the class would be laid down in 1939 however most would be built during the Second World War while the US navy would order 4 further ships of an improved design of the Curtiss class as well as producing other designs for the larger ships while the navy stuck with the Barnegat class for the smaller tenders, ironically by 1943 the US navy had come to the conclusion that they had more ships of the class than they needed leading to the cancelation of the last 6 ships before work began on them leaving the final number of ships at 35, of which 4 were repurposed into motor torpedo boat tenders and one into a catapult training ship which had taken the catapult of a canceled Cleveland class light cruiser.

In service the class would gain a great reputation as they turned out to be very reliable, had excellent seaworthiness, they were capable of traveling long distances, and had good habitability for the crews, and a notable feature of them was the heavy armament as the ships despite their size had been designed for 4 5 inch/38 guns like some of the treaty destroyers the US navy had by that point, this was done as in the event they would be required to they could act as escorts for larger tenders if necessary and they could be apart of the primary AA defenses of a seaplane base that could be set up.

The class despite being intended for the Pacific war would see use in virtually every theater of the war and despite both the number of ships built and the widespread service they saw the class would survive the war with no ships lost whatsoever though by that point the AA armament of these ships began to shift towards less 5 inch guns and more 40mm and 20mm guns. While construction on the last ship would conclude in 1946, and with the end of the war and the downsizing of the US navy it was viewed their was far less of a need for these ships resulting in all but the newest ships to remain in service while the rest were placed into reserve, as it would turn out the story of the class would not end the newer ships still being used as seaplane tenders would remain in service as late as the 1950’s and 1960’s with some seeing service during the Korean War, not only that but post war over a period of time a total of 18 ships would be transferred over into service of the US coast guard as the Casco class cutters as they were looking for ships to serve on ocean stations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on weather-reporting duties, also performing law enforcement and search and rescue operations, leading them remain in use by the US unit 1988, they would also end up being used by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

Outside of use by the United States after the second world war a number of ships would end up being used by foreign operators as they were transferred over to other naives including the navies of Ethiopia, Greece, Italy, Norway, Philippines, and South Vietnamese navies, the coast guard ships would also take part in the Vietnam war alongside the ships handed over to south Vietnam, this would lead the Northern Vietnam acquiring one of the ships which may have been the last in service as late as the 2000’s though the last one which is definitively confirmed was an Italian ship which was removed from service in 1993, meanwhile other ships of the class that were in the south Vietnamese navy would flee to the Philippines leading them to be adopted by them or used as spare parts for the other ships. The ships would mostly serve as patrol vessels or frigates in these other navies though one of the most odd uses was by two of the greek ship which would end up being used as cruise ships.

Specifications (Not all refits for each ship may be covered)
Note(s):

Spoiler

Due to how hard it is to fully confirm the armaments some elements of these ships armaments may by unhistorical however what is listed is what is interpreted as actually been used
Also due to the previously mentioned issue some configurations may not be listed

Displacement:

Standard: 2,040 tons

Fully loaded: 2,551 tons

Length:

310 ft 9 in (94.72 m) (overall)

300 ft 0 in (91.44 m) (waterline)

Beam: 41 ft 1 in (12.52 m)

Draft: 12 ft 5 in (3.78 m) (fully loaded)

Installed power: 6,000 to 6,080 horsepower (4.48 to 4.54 MW)

Propulsion: Diesel engine, two shafts

Speed: 18.6 knots (34.4 km/h ; 21.4 mph)

Range: 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h) 13.5 mph

Aviation fuel capacity: 80,000 US gallons (300,000 L) aviation fuel

Complement:

Without Aviation crew and units: 215

With Aviation crew and units: 367

Armament:

As built (1941)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

2 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP guns (2 x 1)

Anti air armament:

4 x 12.7mm/50 machine guns

1942 configuration (Completed armament)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

4 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP guns (4 x 1)

Anti Air armament:

8 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (8 x 1)

ASW:

2 x Depth charge racks

1942 configuration (Partial armament completion)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

3 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP guns (3 x 1)

Anti air armament:

8 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (8 x 1)

ASW:

2 x Depth charge racks

1942 configuration (Base design)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

2 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP guns (2 x 1)

Anti air armament:

8 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (8 x 1)

ASW:

2 x Depth charge racks

Mackinac As built (1942)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

2 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP guns (3 x 1)

Anti air armament:

Possible 1 Quad 1.1 inch Chicago piano gun (unconfirmed however one illustration show the this and one image of the ship in 1942 shows something resembling this gun mount)

9 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (9 x 1)

ASW:

2 x Depth charge racks

1943 Configuration (Completed armament)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

4 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP guns (4 x 1)

Anti air armament:

4 x 40mm Bofors (2 x 2)

8 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (8 x 1)

ASW:

2 x Depth charge racks

1943 (Partially armament completion)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

3 x 5-inch/38 (127mm)DP guns (3 x 1)

Anti air armament:

8 x 40mm Bofors (1 x 4 & 2 x 2)

8 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (8 x 1)

ASW:

2 x Depth charge racks

1944 (Coos bay)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

3 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP guns (3 x 1)

Anti air armament:

8 x 40mm Bofors (1 x 4 & 2 x 2)

8 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (8 x 1)

ASW:

2 x Depth charge racks

2 x Quad Mousetrap ASWRL

1945 (generally all)

Spoiler

Primary armament:

1 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP gun

Anti air armament:

8 x 40mm Bofors (1 x 4 & 2 x 2)

6 - 8 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (6-8 x 1) (possibly may have been 12-16 as sources suggest they did use twin mounts however this is not fully confirmed, twin mounts may have been implemented on the class earlier)

ASW:

2 x Depth charge racks

2 x Quad Mousetrap ASWRL (Coos bay only)

Other configurations:

Motor torpedo boat tenders:

Spoiler

Primary armament:

2 x 5-inch/38 (127mm) DP guns (2 x 1)

Anti air armament:

8 x 40mm Bofors (4 x 2)

8 x 20mm Oerlikon’s (8 x 1)

ASW