Owasco class cutter
Encyclopedia
The Owasco Class Cutter was a 255 feet (78 m) cutter
class operated by the United States Coast Guard
. A total of thirteen cutters in the class were built, all named after lakes. Eleven were constructed by the Western Pipe & Steel Company
at San Pedro, California, while the remaining two—Mendota and Pontchartrain—were constructed by the Coast Guard Yard
at Curtis Bay, Maryland. Initially heavily armed for World War II
service and designated patrol gunboats (WPG) under the Navy designation system, the vessels were stripped of much of their armament shortly after the war, and in 1965 were redesignated high endurance cutters (WHEC) after the Coast Guard adopted its own designation system.
under lend-lease
, and Congress
stipulated that the Coast Guard had to build these replacement cutters to the same size and character as those provided to the British. The second is that their length was determined by the maximum length that could pass through the locks of the Welland Canal
from the Great Lakes
to the St. Lawrence River. The Great Lakes shipbuilding industry brought pressure on Congress to ensure that it had the potential to bid on the contract. The first theory seems to be correct, but the second cannot be ruled out.
The Coast Guard had prepared a design for a 316 feet (96 m) cutter that was to have been an austere 327. This design was cut down into the 255 feet (78 m) ship. To accomplish this, everything was squeezed down and automated to a degree not before achieved in a turbo-electric-driven ship.
control, variable-rate (10 to 1) burner
s, and automatic synchronizing between the turbogenerator and the motor. Westinghouse
engineers developed a system of synchronization and a variable-frequency drive for main-propulsion auxiliary equipment, which kept the pumps and other items at about two-thirds the power required for constant-frequency operation. The combined boiler
room/engine room was a break with tradition.
The turbo-alternator
s for ship-service power exhausted at 20 psi
gauge pressure instead of into a condenser
. This steam was used all over the ship before finally going to a condenser. Space heating, galley, cooking, laundry, freshwater evaporation, fuel, and feed-water heating were all taken from the 20 psi back-pressure line.
The hull was designed with constant flare at the waterline for ice-going. The structure was longitudinally framed with heavy web frames and an ice belt of heavy plating, and it had extra transverse framing above and below the design waterline. An enormous amount of weight was saved utilizing the technique of electric welding
. The 250 feet (76 m) cutters' weights were used for estimating purposes. Tapered bulkhead
stiffeners cut from 12" I-beams went from the main deck (4' depth of web) to the bottom (8" depth of web). As weight was cut out of the hull structure, electronics and ordnance
were increased, but at much greater heights. This top weight required ballast
ing the fuel tanks with seawater to maintain stability both for wind and damaged conditions.
The superstructure
of the 255s was originally divided into two islands in order to accommodate an aircraft amidships, but this requirement was dropped before any of the units became operational. Following completion of the preliminary design by the Coast Guard, the work was assigned to George G, Sharp of New York to prepare the contract design.
, Tallapoosa
and Unalaga, and ten units were to be replacements for the 250 feet (76 m) class transferred to Great Britain under lend-lease. For economy, all thirteen units were built to the same design.
service in mind, but much of this armament was deemed unnecessary for peacetime and was subsequently removed in the postwar period. Construction of the class received a low priority, and consequently none of the cutters were commissioned in time to see action in WWII, but a number eventually saw combat in the Vietnam war
. They were all however to provide many years of peacetime service in regular Coast Guard roles such as law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue
operations.
Iroquois suffered major damage in a maritime incident in the 1950s and was cannibalized for parts for the other cutters before being scrapped in 1965. The remainder of the class was scrapped in 1974.
United States Coast Guard Cutter
Cutter is the term used by the United States Coast Guard for its commissioned vessels. A Cutter is or greater in length, has a permanently assigned crew, and has accommodations for the crew to live aboard...
class operated by the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
. A total of thirteen cutters in the class were built, all named after lakes. Eleven were constructed by the Western Pipe & Steel Company
Western Pipe and Steel Company
The Western Pipe and Steel Company was an American manufacturing company that is best remembered today for its construction of ships for the Maritime Commission in World War II. It also built ships for the U.S...
at San Pedro, California, while the remaining two—Mendota and Pontchartrain—were constructed by the Coast Guard Yard
United States Coast Guard Yard
The United States Coast Guard Yard or just Coast Guard Yard is a United States Coast Guard operated shipyard located on Curtis Bay in northern Anne Arundel County, Maryland, just south of the Baltimore city limits. It is the coast guard's sole shipbuilding and major repair facility, and part of the...
at Curtis Bay, Maryland. Initially heavily armed for World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service and designated patrol gunboats (WPG) under the Navy designation system, the vessels were stripped of much of their armament shortly after the war, and in 1965 were redesignated high endurance cutters (WHEC) after the Coast Guard adopted its own designation system.
Rationale
Myths have long shadowed the design history of the 255 feet (78 m) class. These cutters were to have been much larger ships, and two theories persist as to why they were shortened. The first is that they were built to replace the ships given to Great BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
under lend-lease
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...
, and Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
stipulated that the Coast Guard had to build these replacement cutters to the same size and character as those provided to the British. The second is that their length was determined by the maximum length that could pass through the locks of the Welland Canal
Welland Canal
The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Canada that extends from Port Weller, Ontario, on Lake Ontario, to Port Colborne, Ontario, on Lake Erie. As a part of the St...
from the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
to the St. Lawrence River. The Great Lakes shipbuilding industry brought pressure on Congress to ensure that it had the potential to bid on the contract. The first theory seems to be correct, but the second cannot be ruled out.
The Coast Guard had prepared a design for a 316 feet (96 m) cutter that was to have been an austere 327. This design was cut down into the 255 feet (78 m) ship. To accomplish this, everything was squeezed down and automated to a degree not before achieved in a turbo-electric-driven ship.
Machinery
The machinery design of the 255s was compact and innovative, but overly complex. It had pilothousePilothouse
A pilothouse or pilot-house is a glass-enclosed room from which a ship is controlled by the ship's pilot. The pilothouse also is known as the wheelhouse....
control, variable-rate (10 to 1) burner
Oil burner
An oil burner is a heating device which burns fuel oil. The oil is atomized in to a fine spray usually by forcing it under pressure through a nozzle...
s, and automatic synchronizing between the turbogenerator and the motor. Westinghouse
Westinghouse Electric (1886)
Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...
engineers developed a system of synchronization and a variable-frequency drive for main-propulsion auxiliary equipment, which kept the pumps and other items at about two-thirds the power required for constant-frequency operation. The combined boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
room/engine room was a break with tradition.
The turbo-alternator
Alternator
An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current.Most alternators use a rotating magnetic field but linear alternators are occasionally used...
s for ship-service power exhausted at 20 psi
Pounds per square inch
The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units...
gauge pressure instead of into a condenser
Condenser (heat transfer)
In systems involving heat transfer, a condenser is a device or unit used to condense a substance from its gaseous to its liquid state, typically by cooling it. In so doing, the latent heat is given up by the substance, and will transfer to the condenser coolant...
. This steam was used all over the ship before finally going to a condenser. Space heating, galley, cooking, laundry, freshwater evaporation, fuel, and feed-water heating were all taken from the 20 psi back-pressure line.
Icegoing design features
The 255 feet (78 m) class was an ice-going design. Ice operations had been assigned to the Coast Guard early in the war, and almost all new construction was either ice-going or ice-breaking.The hull was designed with constant flare at the waterline for ice-going. The structure was longitudinally framed with heavy web frames and an ice belt of heavy plating, and it had extra transverse framing above and below the design waterline. An enormous amount of weight was saved utilizing the technique of electric welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
. The 250 feet (76 m) cutters' weights were used for estimating purposes. Tapered bulkhead
Bulkhead (partition)
A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
stiffeners cut from 12" I-beams went from the main deck (4' depth of web) to the bottom (8" depth of web). As weight was cut out of the hull structure, electronics and ordnance
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
were increased, but at much greater heights. This top weight required ballast
Ballast tank
A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water.-History:The basic concept behind the ballast tank can be seen in many forms of aquatic life, such as the blowfish or argonaut octopus, and the concept has been invented and reinvented many times by...
ing the fuel tanks with seawater to maintain stability both for wind and damaged conditions.
The superstructure
Superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...
of the 255s was originally divided into two islands in order to accommodate an aircraft amidships, but this requirement was dropped before any of the units became operational. Following completion of the preliminary design by the Coast Guard, the work was assigned to George G, Sharp of New York to prepare the contract design.
Number
The number of ships in the class – thirteen in total – had an interesting origin. Three were to have been replacements for over-aged cutters, the OssipeeUSCGC Ossipee (WPR-50)
USCGC Ossipee was a United States Coast Guard cutter that saw service in both World War I and World War II.-Coastal Patrol:...
, Tallapoosa
USCGC Tallapoosa (WPG-52)
The cutter Tallapoosa was designed to replace the cutter Winona and was stationed at Mobile, Alabama, with cruising grounds to Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana and Fowey Rocks, Florida.-Operational history, 1915-1941:...
and Unalaga, and ten units were to be replacements for the 250 feet (76 m) class transferred to Great Britain under lend-lease. For economy, all thirteen units were built to the same design.
Service
The class was initially heavily armed with World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
service in mind, but much of this armament was deemed unnecessary for peacetime and was subsequently removed in the postwar period. Construction of the class received a low priority, and consequently none of the cutters were commissioned in time to see action in WWII, but a number eventually saw combat in the Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. They were all however to provide many years of peacetime service in regular Coast Guard roles such as law enforcement, ocean station, and search and rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
operations.
Iroquois suffered major damage in a maritime incident in the 1950s and was cannibalized for parts for the other cutters before being scrapped in 1965. The remainder of the class was scrapped in 1974.
List of Owasco class ships
| Ship Name | Hull ID | Commission | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owasco USCGC Owasco (WHEC-39) USCG Owasco was an Owasco class high endurance cutter which served with the US Coast Guard from 1945 to 1973. Originally intended for World War II service, she was commissioned only weeks before the end of the war and consequently did not see combat until her deployment in the Vietnam War more... |
WHEC-39 | 1945-1973 | Scrapped, 7 October 1974 |
| Winnebago USCGC Winnebago (WHEC-40) USCG Winnebago was an Owasco class high endurance cutter which served with the US Coast Guard from 1945 to 1973. Originally intended for World War II service, she was commissioned only weeks before the end of the war and consequently did not see combat until her deployment in the Vietnam War more... |
WHEC-40 | 1945-1973 | Scrapped, 7 October 1974 |
| Chautauqua USCGC Chautauqua (WHEC-41) USCG Chautauqua was an Owasco class high endurance cutter which served with the US Coast Guard from 1945 to 1973. Originally intended for World War II service, she was commissioned only days before the end of hostilities and consequently never saw combat.Chautauqua was built by Western Pipe &... |
WHEC-41 | 1945-1973 | Scrapped, 1974 |
| Sebago USCGC Sebago (WHEC-42) USCG Sebago was an Owasco class high endurance cutter which served with the US Coast Guard from 1945 to 1972. Originally intended for World War II service, she was not commissioned until a month after the end of hostilities and consequently did not see combat until her deployment in the Vietnam... |
WHEC-42 | 1945-1972 | Scrapped, 1974 |
| Iroquois USCGC Iroquois (WHEC-43) USCGC Iriquois was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. The war ended before the ship was completed and consequently she never saw wartime service.... |
WHEC-43 | 1946-1965 | Scrapped, 1 June 1965 |
| Wachusett USCGC Wachusett (WHEC-44) USCGC Wachusett was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. She was commissioned too late for service in that war and consequently did not see military service until the Vietnam War.Wachusett was built by Western Pipe & Steel at the... |
WHEC-44 | 1946-1973 | Scrapped, 18 November 1974 |
| Escanaba USCGC Escanaba (WHEC-64) USCGC Escanaba was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. The war ended before the ship was completed and consequently she never saw wartime service.... |
WHEC-64 | 1946-1974 | Scrapped, 1974 |
| Winona USCGC Winona (WHEC-65) USCGC Winona was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. The war ended before the ship was completed and consequently she did not see wartime service until the Vietnam War.... |
WHEC-65 | 1946-1974 | Scrapped, 1974 |
| Klamath USCGC Klamath (WHEC-66) USCGC Klamath was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. The war ended before the ship was completed and consequently Klamath did not see wartime service until the Vietnam War.Klamath was built by Western Pipe & Steel at the... |
WHEC-66 | 1946-1973 | Scrapped, 18 November 1974 |
| Minnetonka USCGC Minnetonka (WHEC-67) USCGC Minnetonka was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. The war ended before the ship was completed and consequently Minnetonka did not see wartime service until the Vietnam war.Minnetonka was built by Western Pipe & Steel at... |
WHEC-67 | 1946-1974 | Scrapped, 1974 |
| Androscoggin USCGC Androscoggin (WHEC-68) USCGC Androscoggin was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. The war ended before the ship was completed and consequently Androscoggin did not see wartime service until the Vietnam war.Androscoggin was built by Western Pipe & Steel... |
WHEC-68 | 1946-1973 | Scrapped, 7 October 1974 |
| Mendota USCGC Mendota (WHEC-69) USCGC Mendota was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard. The ship was commissioned three months before the end of the war and did not see combat action until the Vietnam war.... |
WHEC-69 | 1945-1973 | Scrapped, 1974 |
| Pontchartrain USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70) USCGC Pontchartrain was an Owasco class high endurance cutter built for World War II service with the United States Coast Guard... |
WHEC-70 | 1945-1973 | Scrapped, 1974 |
External links
- Memorandum about 255' Cutters Excessive rolling; recommendation for installation gyro stabilizers - "The undersigned officer agrees with practically all remarks, believing that these ships are the most inhuman ever utilized by the Coast Guard." - E. A. Coffin, Jr. Commanding Officer USCGC Sebago (WPG-42)