The Barnegat class was a large class of United States Navy small seaplane tenders (AVP) built during World War II. Thirty were completed as seaplane tenders, four as motor torpedo boat tenders, and one as a catapult training ship.
Design
Before World War II, the United States Navy foresaw a need for a large force of seaplane tenders in the event of a war in the Pacific, to allow air operations from undeveloped islands and atolls. Full-size seaplane tenders (AVs) were designed to support two squadrons of flying boats each, but they were more expensive to build and had a deep draft, precluding their use in shallow harbors. The U.S. Navy therefore also planned for "small seaplane tenders" (AVPs), with a shallower draft, capable of supporting only one squadron each, but cheaper to build and able to operate in shallow waters. The AVPs were not the descendants of the "seaplane tenders (destroyer)" (AVDs); those had been converted from old destroyers because the Barnegat class could not be built quickly enough to meet the needs of the Navy at the start of the war. Both the full-size and small seaplane tenders were designed to provide supplies, spare parts, fuel, repairs, and berthing for assigned seaplane squadrons, and were well-armed so that they could serve as the primary line of defense of the seaplane bases they set up.
The Barnegat-class ships were the first purpose-built AVPs, prior ships carrying that designation having been minesweepers. In addition to carrying out the above-described responsibilities, they were well-enough armed to be employed as escorts for larger seaplane tenders, having a substantial anti-air and anti-surface gunnery capability, as well as depth charge racks and sonar for antisubmarine work. The gun battery varied greatly, being envisioned originally as two 5-inch (127-millimeter) 38-caliber guns, being expanded to an assigned total of four such guns in 1942. Few ships mounted four of these guns, and batteries of three, two, or one 5-inch guns were mounted during World War II, accompanied by various combinations of 40-millimeter and 20 mm antiaircraft guns. The armament was reduced after the war; those ships in commission as survey ships were entirely unarmed by 1959.
The ships were reliable, long-ranged, and seaworthy, and had good habitability.
In the spring of 1943, the U.S. Navy concluded that the number of Barnegats ordered was excess to requirements. Four of them were converted during construction to motor torpedo boat tenders, while a fifth was modified during construction for use as a catapult training ship for battleship and cruiser floatplane pilots, her catapult equipment coming from that manufactured for canceled Cleveland-class light cruisers. Six other Barnegats were canceled—four on 22 April 1943 and two more on 29 April 1943 – without having been laid down, their diesel engines being needed for various escort ships and amphibious landing craft.
Three Barnegats were selected in 1945 for conversion to press information ships in anticipation of the 1945–1946 invasion of Japan, but when the war ended without this invasion being necessary they were converted back into seaplane tenders.
Naming
The class was named for its lead unit, Barnegat. A few of the ships were named after islands, but the vast majority were named after bodies of water, mostly bays and inlets, around the United States and the then-Territory of Alaska.
Operations
The ships entered service between 1941 and 1946, and all but three of them were commissioned in time to participate in combat actions in World War II. The motor torpedo boat tenders served in the Pacific during the latter half of the war, while the seaplane tenders saw service in virtually every theater in which the United States Navy operated during the war.
The combination of the post-World War II downsizing of the U.S. Navy and the decline of the seaplane and motor torpedo boat in U.S. naval operations meant that all but the newest ships decommissioned in 1946 and 1947. Those that did stay on in service as seaplane tenders decommissioned between the mid-1950s and 1960s, some seeing service in the Korean War (1950–1953). The last unit did not leave U.S. Navy service until 1973.