Shipbucket

As Prohibition reached its zenith in 1925, the Department of the Treasury petitioned congress on behalf of the US Coast Guard, to allocate funds for a new "interdiction cutter". Congress, understanding that the USCG was still in its infancy and using outdated Destroyers from the US Navy, granted the funds for 10 new cutters in 1928, after seeing the finalized proposal. Initially designed with the 5"/51 cal, and 2 6lb Hotchkiss guns in mind construction started on the new cutters. USCGC Bar Harbor CG-21, was the class leader, was completed in 1935 due to a delay from the Stock Market Crash in 1929, all ship construction had been put on hold for "non-essential vessels", til FDR was elected president and his New Deal restarted construction of all 5 ships. Ironically, the USCGC Grays Harbor was the first vessel completed in December of 1934, along with a new gun system, the Mk. 24 5"/38 cal gun. The forward 6lb Hotchkiss gun was replaced by a 3"/50 cal Mk. 10 gun.

List of Harbor class 296ft Cutters:
USCGC Bar Harbor CG-21
USCGC Sag Harbor CG-22
USCGC Dutch Harbor CG-23
USCGC Oak Harbor CG-24
USCGC Grays Harbor CG-25
USCGC Crescent Harbor CG-26
USCGC Hidden Harbor CG-27
USCGC Lloyd Harbor CG-28
USCGC Rock Harbor CG-29
USCGC Wells Harbor CG-30

USCG Harbor Class as proposed to Congress:


USCGC Grays Harbor (As Completed)

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"It is better to type nothing and be assumed an ass, than to type something and remove all doubt." - Me

Very nice work, I like this a lot.

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Thank you, Hood. Feels good to be back in the "saddle" so to speak.

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"It is better to type nothing and be assumed an ass, than to type something and remove all doubt." - Me

Hi Nighthunter!

I like it a lot! I only recently found out myself how much fun it can be to make up gunboats and the like...

Greetings
GD

Well done!

Thanks guys!

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"It is better to type nothing and be assumed an ass, than to type something and remove all doubt." - Me

In late December 1941 the I-25 was sent to the west coast of the United States, to disrupt shipping. She undertook the only bombing of the continental US. In an attempt to spread fear the commander of the I-25 decided to sneak into the Puget Sound. The USCGC Grays Harbor and USCGC Oak Harbor were stationed at Coast Guard Center Port Angeles, and were the first Cutters equipped with sonar. During a patrol of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Grays Harbor discovered the I-25 attempting to sneak into the Strait. The commander of the Grays Harbor immediately launched his Curtiss SOC and radioed the Oak Harbor, who's commander also launched his Grumman J2F Duck, both cutters worked together and successfully sunk the I-25 in the Strait before she could make a complete nuisance. The I-25 was sunk with all hands and was discovered in 1992 by Bob Ballard. (This is a work of complete fiction)

1942 Refit:

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"It is better to type nothing and be assumed an ass, than to type something and remove all doubt." - Me

Nice work Nighthunter

Wow, What a way to make your return

Jolly WELL DONE old chap

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My artwork is posted here: https://www.deviantart.com/adenandy/gallery/all

Nice stuff, I really like the choice of Measure 11 for this ship. Only a few comments:

1. The 40mm Bofors enters USN service in 1942 on the major surface combatants in limited numbers, I don't think you would see it on USCG cutters this early on as frontline ships would have priority. AA fit would likely be limited to .50-cals and one or two 3"/50s.

2. The use of the old parts next to my new stuff is a little weird. I can tell you've used the old old old drawing of Hughes (Sims class) for this, I've redrawn the Sims recently so check the site for the new stuff for a better base for this. Old parts are the searchlights, the Mark 51 directors, the .50-cals forward of the bridge, and the awful bright red life rings.

3. This ship has sonar and depth charge projectors but no stern racks - I'm not sure if this was ever historically done, normally you see ships fitted for ASW with stern racks only and no projectors. It would be tough to fit stern racks on the current design though. Did the USCG operate anti-submarine vessels?

4. The aircraft crane you've used is specifically designed for cruiser/BB quarterdecks and is not suitable for use on a ship like this (unless mounted at the stern). It has several levels of deck penetration for the training/hoisting equipment and would unnecessarily intrude on your below deck space here. I would recommend using a boom crane such as that used for boat handling on the Porter class 1800 ton DD leaders.

5. All this said about catapults/aircraft handling, are you sure this ship would require a catapult? I don't think the Erie class (the only other class of USN PG I know of besides the Tacoma patrol frigates) was ever fitted with one and I know those ships operated floatplanes. As I understand it, the catapults are necessary for big surface combatants who can't stop to hoist the plane overboard for a water takeoff and must be able to catapult a scout plane while running at high speed. As a coastal gunboat/USCG cutter this ship could afford to stop and launch a plane but I'm not sure on the specifics.

6. What is the diagonal line running from just aft of the pilothouse at the 01 level aft towards the top of the funnel? It looks like a boat crane or something but if the ship's whaleboats are lowered by davits then there's no reason to have this.

7. The Mark 33 director was a self-contained director that included all the computer systems for AA fire control. Right now you've got it perched atop the old Mark 37 director foundation from the Sims. This foundation is not necessary and would just add extra weight high up on the ship. Check the drawings I've made of the Farragut and Bagley class DDs to see how to mount a Mark 33 atop a pilot house.

8. ... all that said, it might actually make more sense to equip this ship with a Mark 35 single-purpose director for the 5" gun. I don't really see USCG cutters as needing the advanced (for the time) tachymetric director-controlled AA gunfire system fitted to the frontline DDs.

9. Could use some hull shading.

10. This is personal preference but I generally don't color railing and rigging lines that are next to the white background with the camo color. Again, your choice.

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Thanks for all the constructive criticism, Ian, I appreciate it!

Yeah, a lot of old stuff was used, and I corrected things as needed. Thanks for the updates on everything!

1. AAA: Originally it was equipped with the 1.1" AAA, the Bofors was meant as an update, thought it was fleet-wide at the time. OOPS! Will return it to the 1.1".

2. Ah, again, thanks for the information. I'll make sure to update them. As to the .50 cal's there's only the water-cooled .50's on the newest parts sheet... so? I'll keep digging for the newer stuff.

3. I improvised as the Interception Cutters were meant for intercepting bootleggers, not submarines, but due to wartime necessity, K guns were added. Historically, not that I recall, but, I think that some of the Treasury class vessels were used for ASW patrols, on the Eastern seaboard.

4. Thanks for the references, I'll fix that ASAP!

5. The irony of the Harbor-class is that they were designed for interdiction, and the planes were to be used to scout for motherships that the bootleggers used, that would usually anchor just barely in International waters. There was talk about secretly extending US Territorial waters when it involved these motherships, or fudging their location to make the capture "legal". The planes could also scout ahead if running to intercept a bootlegger and to notify authorities on the location of the drop. This thus makes the Harbor-class invaluable as an ASW vessel as it can launch its plane to track a U/I-boat to help the vessel sink it with depth charges.

6. It is probably a crane, I'll delete it.

7. Thanks, I'll make the necessary corrections.

8. I thought about that, but felt that the Mk.33 could also be used to direct the 3".

9. Thought it was shaded?

10. If I recall correctly, Rails and rigging are the same damn color and it would be a complete pain in the ass to color one and not the other

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"It is better to type nothing and be assumed an ass, than to type something and remove all doubt." - Me