US Navy Auxiliary Ships: Kenneth Whiting (AV-14) Class

USS Hamlin (AV-15) on 13 February 1945
Click on this photograph for links to larger images of this class.

Class:        KENNETH WHITING (AV-14)
Design:        Navy C3
Displacement (tons):        8,510 light, 14,000 lim.
Dimensions (feet):        492.0' oa x 69.5' e x 23.75' lim.
Original Armament:        2-5"/38 2-40mmQ 2-40mmT 16-20mm (1944)
Later armaments:        2-5"/38 2-40mmQ 2-40mmT 8-20mmT (1951-52: AV-14)
Complement:        585 (1944)
Speed (kts.):        18.7
Propulsion (HP):        8,500
Machinery:        Allis-Chalmers turbine, 1 screw

Construction:

AV	Name	Ord.	Builder	Keel	Launch	Commiss.
14	KENNETH WHITING	9 Sep 42	Todd DD & SB, Tacoma	19 Jun 43	15 Dec 43	8 May 44
15	HAMLIN	9 Sep 42	Todd DD & SB, Tacoma	19 Jul 43	11 Jan 44	26 Jun 44
16	ST. GEORGE	9 Sep 42	Todd DD & SB, Tacoma	4 Aug 43	14 Feb 44	24 Jul 44
17	CUMBERLAND SOUND	9 Sep 42	Todd DD & SB, Tacoma	25 Aug 43	23 Feb 44	21 Aug 44
18	TOWNSEND	27 Nov 44	Todd DD & SB, Tacoma	30 Jun 45	--	--

Disposition:

AV	Name	Decomm.	Strike	Disposal	Fate	MA Sale
14	KENNETH WHITING	30 Sep 58	1 Jul 61	26 Feb 62	MA	26 Feb 62
15	HAMLIN	15 Jan 47	1 Jul 63	1 Jul 63	MA	7 Nov 72
16	ST. GEORGE	1 Aug 46	1 Jul 63	10 Dec 68	Trf.	--
17	CUMBERLAND SOUND	27 May 47	1 Jul 61	2 Apr 62	MA	2 Apr 62
18	TOWNSEND	--	--	12 Aug 45	Canc.	--

Class Notes:
FY 1942 (AV 14-17), 1944 (AV-18). On 9 May 42 the Auxiliary Vessels Board noted that the Maximum War Effort Program included 13 tenders, 2 ammunition ships, and 14 oilers to be built in 1943-45. These included nine tenders (AD 22-25, AV 14-17, and AS-23) to be converted in 1943 from C3 hulls. The Maritime Commission initially estimated that it could build and convert the 4 AD and 4 AV at Western Pipe, San Francisco, and the AS at Seattle-Tacoma, Tacoma, but the Tacoma yard was soon shifted from Maritime Commission to Navy control for construction of escort carriers (AVG). By June 1942 the MC was no longer willing to divert nine C3s from its merchant ship program, and on 20 Jul 42 it suggested the Navy built the tenders at Tacoma following the 1943 AVG program. On 6 Aug 42 VCNO ordered the construction of the nine tenders at Tacoma, where they were to replace 9 of the 24 AVG's in the 1944 program. On 27 Aug 42 BuShips informed VCNO that to expedite the tender programs it planned to build only five of the tenders at Tacoma and had arranged to build the four destroyer tenders at Western Pipe's San Pedro yard. On 9 Sep 42 the Navy awarded AV 14-17 and AS-23 (q.v., later cancelled) to Tacoma. They were to be built between the 1943 installment of the ACV (ex AVG) building program at Tacoma (ACV 31-54) and the remaining 1944 installment (ACV 105-119).

On 11 Jun 43 the Auxiliary Vessels Board surveyed the Navy's needs for auxiliaries following the approval of a large combatant ship building program in May. After studying the construction facilities available to the Navy for large auxiliaries, it concluded that the Navy could build 15 additional tenders (4 AD, 4 AR, 4 AS, and 3 AV) to support the new combatants and recommended that their construction be proceeded with. It also recommended that the three seaplane tenders (AV 18-20) be built on the CURRITUCK (AV-7) design, and completed in the third and fourth quarters of 1945 and the fourth quarter of 1946. AV-18 was one of many later tenders (including the AD-26 and AR-13 classes, q.v.) that underwent a complex series of contract transfers and design changes. She was ordered to the AV-7 design from the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 22 Feb 44 for completion in October 1946 and was ordered changed to the C3 design on 21 Oct 44 after the Bureau of Ships reported that the expected completion dates of AV 18-20 had slipped into 1947. AV-18 was reordered as a C3 from Todd Tacoma (formerly the Seattle-Tacoma yard at Tacoma) on 27 Nov 44 for delivery in May 1946.

The design for AV 14-17 was based on the Maritime Commission C3-S-A1 design, which had been prepared by Gibbs and Cox for earlier C3s built at Tacoma and which was then in use there for the 1943 ACV program. This design was modified to be a two-compartment ship with 11 watertight bulkheads. As such it was similar to the design later adopted for the AD-26 class. AV-18 was to be built in accordance with the specifications for AV 14-17, including all subsequent changes and modifications through November 1944. Some enhancements from the AD-26 class design were also worked into AV-18 and a seaplane crane recently removed from AV-4 was designated for use on this ship.

Ship Notes:

AV	Name	Notes
14	KENNETH WHITING	In USN reserve 1946-51 (decommissioned 29 May 47, recommissioned 24 Oct 51) and 1958-61. Made six cruises to the Western Pacific in 1952-58, her operations being centered at Iwakuni, Japan in 1952-54 and in Okinawa and Taiwan in 1955-58. To buyer 8 Mar 62. The buyer planned in Jun 64 to resell her as a barge but scrapping was completed 10 Feb 67.
15	HAMLIN	In USN reserve 1946-62. To NDRF 11 Sep 62, to buyer 27 Nov 72.
16	ST. GEORGE	In USN reserve 1946-62. To NDRF 26 Sep 62, to MA 1 Jul 63, from MA 11 Dec 68, trf. to Italy as ANDREA BAFILE (delivered and commissioned 15 May 69). Stk. by Italy 31 Jul 85.
17	CUMBERLAND SOUND	In USN reserve 1946-61. To buyer 23 Apr 62. The buyer planned in Jun 64 to convert her to a cargo barge.
18	TOWNSEND	Earlier order: NYd Philadelphia (22 Feb 44, AV-7 type).