The ''Currituck''-class seaplane tenders were four ships built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The role of a

seaplane tender A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

was to provide base facilities for

squadrons Squadron(s) may refer to: Military * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 ...

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

s in a similar way that an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

does for its squadrons. While three members of the class were removed from active service in the 1960s, ''Norton Sound'' was modified to serve as a testbed for advanced radar and combat management systems, such as the Aegis Combat System.

Design and description

In the interwar period, the

sought to find a cheaper alternative to the construction of

airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

s on land for its air fleet. The distances required for air support, primarily in the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, were long and interwar naval treaties limited the size of

s. The

seaplane carrier A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

was developed during interwar planning, with two versions being designed for use. The first design, designated AV, operated two full

of patrol aircraft, provided quarters for the aircrew and repair functions. The second, designated AVP, was smaller, only capable of operating one squadron and was intended for use in shallow harbors due to their shallower

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

. The ''Currituck'' class were of the first design and were also well armed as the ships were expected to provide shore defence too. The primary role of the ''Currituck'' class was reconnaissance as their mobility gave them an advantage of land-based aircraft. They also had a secondary role of bombing and torpedo attacks. As the designs developed, alternative uses for the ''Currituck'' class was envisaged, with the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

planning to use them for advanced base operations, flying Marine Corps

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

aircraft and another one saw the ships used to transport aircraft to the front lines. Both of these were rejected, with

escort carrier The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slower type of aircraf ...

s considered a more adequate ship type for the second role. During

, the ''Currituck'' class were used as conventional seaplane tenders. The ''Currituck''-class ships measured

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and at the

waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a maximum draft of . The ''Currituck''s had a trial

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of and a

full load displacement The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...

of . The

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

, , was powered by Parsons

geared turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s, while the three others of the class were given Allis-Chalmers geared turbines. These were powered by steam created by four Babcock & Wilcox Express boilers turning two

shafts ''Shafts'' was an English feminist magazine produced by Margaret Sibthorp from 1892 until 1899. Initially published weekly and priced at one penny, its themes included votes for women, women's education, and radical attitudes towards vivisection ...

creating . This gave the seaplane tenders a maximum speed of . The vessels had a wartime

complement Complement may refer to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-class collections into complementary sets * Complementary color, in the visu ...

of 1,247 including 162 officers. During peacetime, the ship's had a complement of 553 including 30 officers. The vessels had a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

for

s and could operate up to two full squadrons. They also had a flush-decked

catapult A catapult is a ballistics, ballistic device used to launch a projectile at a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden rel ...

, that along with a larger hangar, resulted from those alternative uses put forth for the design. During

, the vessels were armed with four single-mounted /38-caliber

dual-purpose gun A dual-purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets. Description Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and ...

s, three quad-mounted and four twin-mounted guns. The 1.6-inch guns were removed postwar.

Ships in class

Construction and career

The lead ship, ''Currituck'', was constructed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and entered service in 1944. The ship was modernized under the 1957 conversions program at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and re-entered service on 20 August 1960. The ship was taken out of service and assigned to the Maritime Administration Reserve Fleet in 1968 after the

Martin P5M Marlin The Martin P5M Marlin (P-5 Marlin after 1962), built by the Glenn L. Martin Company of Middle River, Maryland, is a twin piston-engined flying boat that entered service in 1951, and served into the late 1960s with the United States Navy perform ...

aircraft were retired from naval service. ''Norton Sound'', ''Pine Island'' and ''Salisbury Sound'' were all built by Todd Shipyard on the west coast and entered service by mid-1945. In 1948 ''Norton Sound'' was selected to be converted to a guided missile trials ship. The ship had its two forward 5-inch guns removed and a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

platform installed and also had its stern crane removed. ''Norton Sound'' was assigned to the Operation Test and Evaluation Force. The vessel carried out tests with American versions of the German

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

and the US Navy's

Aerobee The Aerobee rocket was one of the United States' most produced and productive sounding rockets. Developed by the Aerojet Corporation, the Aerobee was designed to combine the altitude and launching capability of the V-2 with the cost effectiven ...

rocket, the

RIM-24 Tartar The General Dynamics RIM-24 Tartar was a medium-range naval surface-to-air missile (SAM), among the earliest SAMs to equip United States Navy ships. The Tartar was the third of the so-called "3 Ts", the three primary SAMs the Navy fielded in the ...

missile system and the

RIM-50 Typhon Typhon was a missile system developed by the United States Navy in the late 1950s, intended to serve as an integrated air-defense system for Navy fleets. Consisting of the SAM-N-8 Typhon LR, later designated RIM-50A, and the SAM-N-9 Typhon MR, l ...

missile system. In 1958 ''Norton Sound'' would be the launch platform for the

Operation Argus Operation Argus was a series of United States low-yield, high-altitude nuclear weapons tests and missile tests secretly conducted from 27 August to 9 September 1958 over the South Atlantic Ocean. The tests were performed by the Defense Nucle ...

nuclear tests in the south Atlantic. ''Pine Island'' and ''Salisbury Sound'' were placed in reserve in 1967. ''Currituck'', ''Pine Island'' and ''Salisbury Sound'' were all stricken from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

Design and description

Ships in class

Construction and career

See also

Notes

Citations

References