Cascade class AD
(United States)
|
Name |
No. |
Launch |
Comm. |
Decom. |
Fate |
|
USS Cascade |
AD-16 |
6 June 1942 |
12 Mar 1943 |
22 Nov 1974 |
Scrapped 1976 |
Notes: USS Cascade was a personnel transport converted mid-construction by Western Pipe & Steel into a wartime destroyer tender. In 1963, the ship was modified under the FRAM programme with flight deck and hangar to serve as a trials (and later support) ship for the QH-50 DASH drone. After the conclusion of DASH tests, Cascade served as a general tender in the Atlantic fleet.
An interesting side note was that USS Cascade served as the venue for the inquiry into the loss of several warships during Typhoon Cobra in 1944; with Cascade’s captain serving as the senior JAG. Author Herman Wouk loosely based his novel The Caine Mutiny on these proceedings.
Displacement: 9260t empty, 9800t standard, 16,600t full (after FRAM) Dimensions: 492’x69’6”x27’3” Machinery: Steam-reduction: 2 Babcock & Wilcox 850F boilers, 1 Babcock & Wilcox geared steam turbine w/Parsons locked-train reduction gearing, 1 shaft Max speed: 17.5kts Complement: 857
AIRCRAFT
x2 QH-50 DASH drones (after FRAM)
WEAPONS-Guns
x2 Mk38 5” 4 ¾ NM surface/AA
(wartime 20mm and 40mm guns removed during FRAM)
SENSORS-Radar
AN/SPS-5 (I) 25NM surface search (range, bearing)