The ''Currituck''-class seaplane tenders were four ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. 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 of seaplanes 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 facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

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

USS Currituck (AV-7) off Philadelphia Navy Yard 1944

In the interwar period, the United States Navy sought to find a cheaper alternative to the construction of airstrips 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 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 was developed during interwar planning, with two versions being designed for use. The first design, designated AV, operated two full squadrons 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. 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 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 slow type of aircraft ...

s considered a more adequate ship type for the second role. During World War II, the ''Currituck'' class were used as conventional seaplane tenders. The ''Currituck''-class ships measured

long overall __NOTOC__ 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 ...

and at the waterline 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 *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

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 wei ...

of . The lead ship, , was powered by Parsons

geared turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

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 creating . This gave the seaplane tenders a maximum speed of . The vessels had a wartime complement of 1,247 including 162 officers. During peacetime, the ship's had a complement of 553 including 30 officers. The vessels had a hangar for seaplanes and could operate up to two full squadrons. They also had a flush-decked

catapult A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile 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 release of stored p ...

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

USS Norton Sound (AVM-1) underway at sea, circa in 1980

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 aircraft were retired from naval service. ''Norton Island'', ''Pine Island'' and ''Salisbury Sound'' were all built by Todd Shipyard on the west coast and entered service by mid-1945. In 1948 ''Norton Island'' was selected to be converted to a guided missile trials ship. The ship had its two forward 5-inch guns removed and a helicopter platform installed and also had its stern crane removed. ''Norton Island'' was assigned to the Operation Test and Evaluation Force. The vessel carried out tests with American versions of the German V-1 flying bomb and the US Navy's Aerobee rocket, the

RIM-24 Tartar The General Dynamics RIM-24 Tartar was a medium-range naval surface-to-air missile (SAM), and was among the earliest surface-to-air missiles to equip United States Navy ships. The Tartar was the third of the so-called "3 T's", the three primary ...

missile system and the RIM-50 Typhon missile system. ''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 in the 1970s.

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References