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UNITED STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT
BUREAU OF CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR / BUREAU OF SHIPS
"SPRING STYLES," 1939-1944
BUREAU OF CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIR / BUREAU OF SHIPS
"SPRING STYLES," 1939-1944
Online Library of Selected Images -- Photo Albums
Bureau of Ships' "Spring Styles" Book # 3 (1939-1944)
-- (Naval Historical Center Lot # S-511) --
Escort Vessel and Mine Vessel Preliminary Design Drawings
The 1939-1944 "Spring Styles" Book includes five preliminary design drawings for ships intended for mine warfare or escort service. The earliest (January 1941) of these is for a minesweeper conversion of the 173-foot steel submarine chasers (PC) then under construction, a project that apparently resulted in the Adroit (AM-82) class. Other mine vessel plans (from May and June 1941) are for what is presumably the preliminary design of 180-foot Admirable (AM-136) class minesweepers, and for a 275-foot coastal mine layer. The latter did not find a place in the Navy's actual construction program.
An April 1941 drawing shows a modification of a British Navy "Flower" class corvette, a type immortalized by their wartime achievements and in the post-war novel "The Cruel Sea". Several of these little ships, built in the United Kingdom or Canada, entered U.S. Navy service as the Temptress (PG-62) and Action (PG-86) class "gunboats".
By September 1943, with the German submarine threat notably less daunting than just a few months previously, the existing construction program for escort ships (DE) appeared to be excessive. Accordingly, proposals were prepared for converting some of these hulls for other purposes. The "Spring Styles" book includes a drawing for two such conversions, both featuring larger numbers of five-inch guns: a "Bombardment Ship" and an "Anti-Aircraft Ship".
This page features those 1939-1944 Bureau of Ships "Spring Styles" plans that concern escort and mine warfare vessels.
For general information on this album, see:
On the picture data sheets referenced from this page, click on the thumbnail image (small photograph) to prompt a larger view of the same image.
The Escort and Mine Vessel drawings included in this album are:
- S-511-33: "Mine Sweeper - Adaptation of PC 452 Type". Plan dated 6 January 1941 for a 360 ton (full load), 170 foot long minesweeper based on the 173-foot steel submarine chaser design. Probably prepared during consideration of what became the Adroit (AM-82) class.
- S-511-34: "Proposed Mine Sweeper - Design Study". Plan dated 2 May 1941 for a 750 ton (full load), 180 foot long minesweeper. Probably prepared during consideration of what became the Admirable (AM-136) class.
- S-511-35: "Coastal Mine Layer - Design Study". Plan dated 12 June 1941 for a 2125 ton, 275 foot long mine layer. No such ships were built.
- S-511-30: "Escort Vessel (Corvette) - (Flower Class) - With Extended Forecastle, Increased Sheer, & Fuller Lines Fwd". Plan dated April 1941 for a modification of the British "Flower" class corvette.
- S-511-62: "300' DE Class Conversion to Bombardment Ship or Anti-Aircraft Ship". Plan dated 7 September 1943 (with an additional note of 25 October 1943), prepared during consideration of different roles for steam-powered escort ships (DE) then under construction.
For general information on this album, see:
Return to Spring Styles 1939-1944 top page.Page made 31 March 2005