Casco class cutter

USCGC Casco (WHEC-370. ex-WAVP-370) in 1969.
Class overview
Name:	Casco
Builders:	Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington (3 ships) Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts (2 ships) Lake Washington Shipyard, Houghton, Washington (10 ships) Associated Shipbuilders, Inc., Seattle, Washington (3 ships)
Built:	October 1939-November 1944
In commission:	September 1946-April 1988
Completed:	18
Lost:	0
Retired:	18
Preserved:	0
General characteristics
Class and type:	Casco class cutter
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:	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range:	20,000 nmi (37,000 km; 23,000 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	151
Sensors and processing systems:	Radar, sonar
Armament:	1 × 5-inch (127-millimeter) gun 2 × twin 40--millimeter gun mounts (except Absecon 1 quadruple 40-millimeter mount and Dexter no 40-millimeter guns) 2 twin 40--millimeter gun mounts 2 twin 20-mm antiaircraft gun mounts (removed 1957) 1 Hedgehog Mark 10 4 depth charge projectors Triple 12.75-inch (324-millimeter) antisubmarine warfare torpedo tubes fitted mid-1960s

The Casco class was a large class of United States Coast Guard cutters in commission from the late 1940s through the late 1980s. They saw service as weather reporting ships in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans until the early 1970s, and some saw combat service during the Vietnam War.

Between 1941 and 1946, the United States Navy acquired 35 Barnegat-class small seaplane tenders, designated "AVP" in the Navy's alphanumeric hull numbering system and designed to logistically and administratively support a squadron of flying boats operating from undeveloped areas and, with a substantial anti-air, antisurface, and antisubmarine capability, to escort larger seaplane tenders. Most of them served during World War II, although even during the war the Navy determined the number of Barnegats to be surplus to requirements; as a result, one was completed as a catapult training ship for Navy floatplane pilots (retaining its "AVP" designation) and four were converted during construction into motor torpedo boat tenders, redesignated "AGP".

After World War II, the Navy had a surplus of seaplane tenders, and the Coast Guard was looking for ships to serve on ocean stations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on weather-reporting duties, also performing law enforcement and search and rescue operations as required. The Barnegats were reliable, long-ranged, and seaworthy, and had good habitability, and, suitably modified, were good candidates to meet the Coast Guard's requirements; in the words of the Coast Guard's assessment of the Barnegats, "The workmanship on the vessel is generally quite superior to that observed on other vessels constructed during the war. The vessel has ample space for stores, living accommodations, ships, offices and recreational facilities. The main engine system is excellent. . . .The performance of the vessel in moderate to heavy seas is definitely superior to that of any other cutter. This vessel can be operated at higher speed without storm damage than other Coast Guard vessels."