Barnegat-class seaplane tender

USS Barnegat (AVP-10), lead ship of the Barnegat-class small seaplane tenders, in Puget Sound on 14 October 1941
Class overview
Name:	Barnegat
Builders:	Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington (4 ships) Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts (2 ships) Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington (24 ships) Puget Sound Navy Yard and Lake Washington Shipyard (1 ship) Associated Shipbuilders, Inc.,Seattle, Washington (4 ships)
Operators:	United States Navy  United States Coast Guard United States Coast and Geodetic Survey  Ethiopian Navy  Hellenic Navy  Marina Militare  Royal Norwegian Navy  Philippine Navy  Vietnam People's Navy Republic of Vietnam Navy
Preceded by:	Lapwing class
Succeeded by:	None
Built:	October 1939-July 1946
In commission:	July 1941-January 1973
Planned:	41
Completed:	35 total 30 as seaplane tenders 4 as motor torpedo boat tenders 1 as catapult training ship
Cancelled:	6
Lost:	0
Retired:	35
Preserved:	0
General characteristics
Class and type:	Barnegat-class small seaplane tender
Displacement:	2,040 tons standard 2,551 tons full load
Length:	310 ft 9 in (94.72 m) overall 300 ft 0 in (91.44 m) (waterline)
Beam:	41 ft 1 in (12.52 m)
Draft:	12 ft 5 in (3.78 m) full
Installed power:	6,000 to 6,080 horsepower (4.48 to 4.54 MW)
Propulsion:	Diesel engine, two shafts
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h) 23 mph
Range:	6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h) 13.5 mph
Capacity:	80,000 US gallons (300,000 L) aviation fuel
Complement:	215 (ship's company) 367 (including aviation unit)
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar, sonar
Armament:	Designed: 2 × 5-inch (127-millimeter) guns Assigned 1942 (rarely fully installed): 4 × 5-inch (127-mm) guns, 8 × 20 mm antiaircraft guns, plus in some units 2 × depth charge racks 1944: Either 2 × 5-inch (127-mm) guns and 4 × 20 mm antiaircraft guns or 1 × 5-inch (127-mm) gun, 1 × quadruple 40 mm antiaircraft gun mount, 2 × twin 40 mm gun mounts, and 6 × 20 mm antiaircraft guns (also Mousetrap aboard Coos Bay only).
Aviation facilities:	Supplies, fuel, berthing, and repairs for one squadron of seaplanes

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.

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), which were 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.