Cape Current (WPB-95307), a Type A Cape class patrol boat, in 1963.
Class overview
Name	Cape class (after 1964)
Builders	United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Baltimore
Operators	United States Coast Guard
Preceded by	83-foot patrol boat
Succeeded by	Island class cutter
Completed	36
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Patrol boat
Displacement	Type A, 102 tons fully loaded Type B, 105 tons fully loaded Type C, 98 tons fully loaded [2]
Length	95 ft (29 m)
Beam	20 ft (6.1 m) max
Draft	Type A, 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Type B, 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Type C, as completed
Installed power	4 Cummins VT-600 diesels (Types A, B, and C), 2200 hp; after renovation, 2 Detroit 16V149 diesels, 2470 hp[2]
Propulsion	twin propellers
Speed	Types A & B, 20 knots max, Type C, 22 knots max, renovated, 24 knots[2]
Range	Cruising at 12 knots; Type A,1,418 mi (2,282 km) Type B, 1,700 mi (2,700 km) Type C,1,780 mi (2,860 km)[2]
Complement	15 (1961)
Sensors and processing systems	SPS-64 radar (1987)
Electronic warfare & decoys	retractable type sonar (Types A & B only)
Armament	Type A; 2 mousetrap depth charge racks, 2 20mm twin Oerlikon cannons, 2 .50 cal machine guns Type B; 2 mousetrap depth charge racks, 1 40mm cannon, 2 .50 cal machine guns Type C; 2 .50 cal machine guns, 2 40mm Mk 19 grenade launchers (1987)[2]

The Cape-class patrol boats were 95-foot (29 m) steel hull patrol boats with aluminum superstructures of the United States Coast Guard. They were unnamed until 1964, when they acquired names of U.S. capes of land. Originally designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW), all 36 boats in this class were built at the United States Coast Guard Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland.

History

The Cape class was originally developed as an ASW boat and as a replacement for the aging, World War II vintage, wooden 83-foot patrol boats (83 feet (25 m) in length) that were used mostly for search and rescue duties.^[2] With the outbreak of the Korean War and the requirement tasked to the Coast Guard to secure and patrol port facilities in the United States under the Magnuson Act of 1950, the complete replacement of the 83-foot boat was deferred and the 95-foot boat was used for harbor patrols.^[1][3][4] The first 95-foot hulls were laid down at the Coast Guard Yard in 1952 and were officially described as "seagoing patrol cutters". Because Coast Guard policy did not provide for naming cutters under 100 feet (30 m) at the time of their construction they were referred to by their hull number only and gained the Cape-class names in 1964 when the service changed the naming criteria to 65 feet (20 m). The class was named for North American geographic capes.^[5]

The Cape class was replaced by the 110-foot (34 m) Island class beginning in the late 1980s and many of the decommissioned cutters were transferred to nations of the Caribbean and South America by the Coast Guard.

Design

There were three sub-classes or types that evolved as missions for the boat changed.^[1] The Type A was outfitted primarily for ASW. The Type B was fitted more for search and rescue (SAR) with the addition of scramble nets, a towing bitt, and a large searchlight. The Type C vessels were constructed with a deck house aft of the bridge.^[2] Sixteen boats were overhauled as part of a renovation program began in the mid-late 1970s.

Units