The ''SC-1'' class was a large class of

submarine chaser A submarine chaser or subchaser is a type of small naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. They encompass designs that are now largely obsolete, but which played an important role in the wars of the first half of th ...

s built during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

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 ...

. They were ordered in very large numbers in order to combat attacks by German

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s, with 442 boats built from 1917 to 1919.

Development

In 1916, the then

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) is the title given to certain civilian senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy. From 1861 to 1954, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy was the second-highest civilian office in the Depart ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

ordered the US Navy to design a small anti-submarine vessel that could be built quickly in small civilian boatyards, as if war came, larger shipyards would be busy building larger warships.Treadwell, Theodore R
"Subchasers of World War I"
''Splinter Fleet''. Retrieved 4 March 2011. Consideration was given to adopting an wooden

Motor Launch Launch is a name given to several different types of boat. The wide range of usage of the name extends from utilitarian craft through to pleasure boats built to a very high standard. In naval use, the launch was introduced as a ship's boat ...

built in large numbers by

ELCO Elco or ELCO may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Elco, Illinois * Elco, Pennsylvania Schools * El Camino College * Eastern Lebanon County High School, a school in Myerstown, Pennsylvania * El Camino High School (South San Francisco) Businesses * Elc ...

for the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, but the

General Board of the United States Navy The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, somewhat akin to a naval general staff. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by Secretary of the Navy John ...

thought that these boats were too small to be effective seaboats. The task of designing the new type was given to an experienced designer of small boats, Albert Loring Swasey. He drew up a design for a wooden boat, emphasizing seaworthiness over speed. At first it was intended to use two engines, but a shortage of these engines resulted in the design being changed to use three

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

engines.Gardiner and Gray 1985, pp. 132–133. Armament was initially planned to be two guns, but the aft gun was usually replaced by a

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon designed to destroy submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited ...

thrower to attack submerged submarines, with two Colt machine guns completing the armament. Many boats were fitted with

hydrophone A hydrophone () is a microphone designed for underwater use, for recording or listening to underwater sound. Most hydrophones contains a piezoelectric transducer that generates an electric potential when subjected to a pressure change, such as a ...

s for detecting underwater noises, with either a K-tube fish-type device of range or SC and MB tubes of range.Moore 1990, p. 152. An initial order of 345 SC boats placed in 1917 was planned to be delivered by the end of 1917, with further orders for the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

pushing the total ordered up to 448.

Operational history

Deliveries started in July 1917, with deliveries continuing into 1919, with 441 boats built, and the remaining seven boats canceled. One hundred were sold to France,Moore 1990, p. 197. and a further 121 US Navy SC boats were deployed to Europe to operate off Britain and France and in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, where they supported the

Otranto Barrage The Otranto Barrage was an Allied naval blockade of the Strait of Otranto between Brindisi in Italy and Corfu on the Greek side of the Adriatic Sea in the First World War. The operation consisted of over 200 vessels at the height of the block ...

with the remaining US Navy boats operating off the East Coast of the United States. The US Navy lost six SC boats during World War I; lost in collision with the tanker ''Fred M. Weller'' on 1 October 1918,"Hull Number: SC 60"
''The Subchaser Archives''. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships''. Retrieved 5 June 2015. in a fire on 22 December 1917,
''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships''. Retrieved 5 June 2015. was lost in collision on 5 June 1918, in a collision on 4 August 1918, by

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy or hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while ...

from the

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

SS ''Felix Taussig'' on 27 August 1918"SC-201 through SC-300"
''Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships''. Retrieved 5 June 2015."Hull Number: SC 209"
''The Subchaser Archives''. Retrieved 4 March 2011. and by fire on 19 February 1918."Hull Number: SC 209"
''The Subchaser Archives''. Retrieved 4 March 2011 France lost three SC-boats. Following the end of the war, four boats (, , and ) were transferred to Cuba, while 14 boats were transferred to the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

in 1919–1920. Eight of the French SC boats remained in service at the outbreak of

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 ...

.Gardiner and Chesneau 1980, p. 259. In 1920 SC 292 sold commercial becoming Trawler "Chief Seattle", SC 293 becoming Trawler "George L. Harvey", and SC 300 becoming Trawler "Joseph Kildall'. By December 1941, only 11 boats remained in US Navy service, with two continuing in use until at least April 1945.Friedman 1987, p. 32. Two boats were sold to the

Bulgarian Navy The Bulgarian Navy () is the navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; name ...

and saw action in World War II, sinking one Soviet submarine.

Ships

Footnotes

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Friedman, Norman. ''U.S. Small Combatants''. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1987. . * Gardiner, Robert and Randall Gray (eds). ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921''. London: Conway Maritime Press, 1985. . * * Halpern, Paul G. ''A Naval History of World War I''. London: UCL Press, 1995. . * Halpern, Paul G. ''The Naval War in the Mediterranean 1914–1918''. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1987. . * Moore, John. ''Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I''. London: Studio, 1990. .

External links

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (print), v. VI, Appendix 1, "Submarine Chasers (SC)"
(General description p. 711-713, list following)
Subchaser.org
{{SC-1 class submarine chasers, state=collapsed SC-1-class submarine chasers World War I patrol vessels of the United States Ship classes of the French Navy