Treasury Class Cutter - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

The 327's were designed to meet changing missions of the service as it emerged from the Prohibition era. Because the air passenger trade was expanding both at home and overseas, the Coast Guard believed that cutter-based aircraft would be essential for future high-seas search and rescue. Also, during the mid-1930s, narcotics smuggling, mostly opium, was on the increase, and long-legged, fairly fast cutters were needed to curtail it. The 327's were an attempt to develop a 20-knot (37 km/h) cutter capable of carrying an airplane in a hangar.

The final 327-foot (100 m) design was based on the Erie-class US Navy gunboats; the machinery plant and hull below the waterline were identical. This standardization would save money—always paramount in the Coast Guard's mind, as the cutters were built in U.S. Navy shipbuilding yards. Thirty-two preliminary designs based upon the Erie class were drawn up before one was finally selected. The healthy sheer forward and the high slope in the deck in the wardrooms was known as the "Hunnewell Hump." Commander (Constructor) F. G. Hunnewell, USCG, was the head of the Construction and Repair Department at that time.

The seven Treasury-class Coast Guard Cutters were:

• USCGC Bibb (WPG-31), (original # 71) launched 14 January 1937
• USCGC Campbell (WPG-32), (original # 65) launched 3 June 1936
• USCGC Duane (WPG-33), (original # 67) launched 3 June 1936
• USCGC Hamilton (WPG-34), (original # 69) launched 10 November 1936
• USCGC Ingham (WPG-35), (original # 66) launched 3 June 1936
• USCGC Spencer (WPG-36), (original # 70) launched 6 January 1937
• USCGC Taney (WPG-37), (original # 68) launched 3 June 1936

Displacing 2,350 tons with a 12-foot (3.7 m) draft, these ships had a maximum speed of 20 knots (37 km/h). They had crews of between 120 and 230 depending on whether they were serving in peace or wartime. The ships were originally built with two open centerline 5"/51 caliber gun mounts forward, and carried either a single Grumman JF-2 Duck or Curtiss SOC-4 aft. Various arrangements of 3"/50 and 5"/51 guns and depth charge throwers were installed aft when the planes were removed in 1940-41. Postwar armament typically included hedgehog and an enclosed 5"/38 caliber gun mount forward and Mark 32 anti-submarine warfare torpedo tubes aft.