CGC Taney and the USCG in WWII

[spence]

Recognizing that the game is pretty much as good as it'll ever get a few assumptions seemingly made regarding the Coast Guard irk this old "Coastie".

USCGC Taney: CGC Taney was the "pride of the fleet (along with her sisterships)" in 1941. To save money as a "Depression Era" warship she was based on the same design (hull/engine plant) as used in the USS Charleston but without the extra weight of the 6" guns she and her sisterships were much better "sea boats". She could still make 15-18 kts in a heavy sea while contemporary DDs and Charleston had to slow to 12 kts. She was commanded by a very experienced Commander (O-5) rather than one of the inexperienced junior officers suggested by the game. Unlike the Navy the USCG had spent the 20's and early 30's "fighting" the Rum Wars providing very valuable experience to her (then) junior officers who would command cutters in WW2. She had had her AA and ASW armament augmented early in 1941 and had spent much of 1941 alternating with the old destroyers of DESDIV 80 working harbor patrol ASW at Pearl Harbor: she would seemingly deserve at least the same modest experience base as the USS Ward or USS Schley (or other DDs of DESDIV 80), etc.
CGC Taney's initial armament had included two 5"/51 cal forward but one of them was moved to her stern in early 1941 and was replaced by 2 x 3"/50 cal AA (one behind the other on the 02 and 03 levels). On 7 December her light AA was composed of 4 x .50 cal MGs but these were "replaced" by 20mm's in May 1942 (knowing Coasties I'll bet neither the Gunnery Officer nor the GMC couldn't find those .50's when the Navy came looking for them though). In her pre-war outfit CGC Taney carried a JF2 duck a/c on her fantail so she had lots of room for a 5"/51 cal and some 600 lb DC racks. A pair of Y gun DC throwers were installed just behind the ship's boats. CGC Taney served in the Pacific til the end of 1943. In the May 1942 refit she may or may not have had additional DC projectors installed (unsure - the USCG ship's history does not mention a refit in Sept 42 (per game) but her sisters serving in the Atlantic did get the additional DC projectors. At the beginning of 1944 Taney was rearmed again but was also sent to the Atlantic. She returned to battle in the Pacific in early 1945 as an AGC (per game) and served in that capacity off Okinawa (the really cool and unique 1944 armament package (4 x 5"/38cal) she carried only in the Atlantic/Med.

Perhaps some modder will find this info useful but due to time constraints this particular rant is over.

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Now to continue the rant.

The game omits the 240 ft Tampa Class cutter USCGC Haida. She had been built with service in the far North envisioned and after concluding her refit in January 1942 spent her war there. She carried heavy armament for a ship of her size (2 x 5"/51 cals and 1 x 3"/50 cal AA, 2 .50cal mg's, 4 Y-gun DC projectors and 2 DC racks). On Jan 1 1943 the 5"/51s were replaced by 3"/50s and the Y-guns were replaced by K-guns. The original 3 inch was replaced by 2 Mousetrap ASW projectors). The yard period ended towards the end of February and the ship served independently as a weather ship for the rest of the war.

The game also omits all of the somewhat less capable ships of the USCG from the game entirely: the 240 ft Lake Class. Perhaps this is because 7 of them were leased to the British prior to US entry. Turns out all of the survivors all ended up escorting convoys in the Indian Ocean in 1944 and 45 (two were torpedoed and sunk by the Germans, and one got used to carry commandos at Algiers or Oran and got completely shot to pieces/sunk).

[DOCUP]

Taney is in the DBBs mod and mods associated with it. I also think that some of the other USCGC Cutters are in the DBBs. I would like to se some of the Coast Guard air search groups added.

[btd64]

ORIGINAL: DOCUP

Taney is in the DBBs mod and mods associated with it. I also think that some of the other USCGC Cutters are in the DBBs. I would like to se some of the Coast Guard air search groups added.

I believe Taney is in Vanilla scenarios (GC) as well....GP

[Jorge_Stanbury]

great escort ship...

Taney is in the GC game, as well as DaBabes mods

[Jorge_Stanbury]

Dababes

[obvert]

LOVE these ships! So useful. The big guns can be a saviour against surface raiders like the AMC in South Pacific early.

[traskott]

My favourite escort ships. Reserved for high value convoys...

[dr.hal]

This is certainly interesting information. It's a good example of how complicated it would be to research each ship and get their refits right. As is indicated records are lost or sometimes conflicting/inaccurate. I applaud the game for getting all that they did right, or as close to right as possible!!!! I think the game certainly underplays the Coast Guard's role especially in terms of air assets, but that's a minor fault in relation to what it DID get right. I like the Dababes additions as they add detail, and the devil is in those details... or so some say!

[bush]

Playing DBB-C and the Haida is a great little ship!

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I guess I am just offended by the average Japanese fishing smack (PBs) having more experience in both day and night combat and a more senior and evidently more experienced CO's than the US's other professional naval service. The Treasury class cutters mostly served in the Atlantic early on (Taney being the exception) but they scored many of the early victories over the Uboats there. In addition 2 of the earliest sinkings of Uboats along the US coast (during what the Germans called Operation Drumbeat) were performed by 165 ft CG patrol boats.

Little glory accrued to the USCG during WW2 but they were professionals right at the start, as capable as any in the USN. Just didn't have the big flashy ships

BTW CG aviation pretty much occurred out of small air stations stateside with only 2 or 3 planes. The USCG did pioneer the use of helicopters starting during WW2. I believe there was but one fully USCG manned Patrol Squadron (PBYs). Pretty sure it served in the Atlantic.

[DOCUP]

I would like to have few more of the Treasury class and Erie class ships. I have added some Coastie Air squadrons in my mod.

[spence]

I served on two of the 327s: CGC Duane and CGC Bibb. On the Duane I found the ship's official war diaries for the winter of 1942-43 while she escorted convoys in the Atlantic. Hopefully some of the detail one can find on the CG Historian's website can be attributed to my forwarding them to HQ (after reading them through of course). On the Bibb I found a WW2 scrapbook behind a locker that tore off the bulkhead in a storm (hell of a storm) - cool pics but no captions although I think they were from roughly the same time period as the war diaries. Interesting to see "Dungaree Chiefs". Both were sunk as artificial reefs near Key West in 1986.

Of the other 327s:
CGC Hamilton was sunk by a Uboat 1942
CGC Spencer - decommissioned in 1974, scrapped in 1980
CGC Campbell - decommissioned in 1985, sunk as a target by the USN (Harpoon missile hit)
CGC Ingham - decommissioned in 1986, now a museum ship in Key West, FL
and
CGC Taney - decommissioned in 1986, now a museum ship in Baltimore, MD