Faunce, 1927
WSC-138
John A. Faunce was an influential Revenue Cutter Service officer who served from the 1850s through the 1870s.
CLASS: Active Class Patrol Boat
BUILDER: American Brown Boveri Electric Corp., Camden, NJ
COMMISSIONED: 1 April 1927
LAUNCHED: 15 March 1927
DECOMMISSIONED: 13 January 1948 and sold 16 June 1948
DISPLACEMENT: 232 tons
PROPULSION: 2 x 6-cylinder, 300 hp engines
LENGTH: 125 feet
BEAM: 23 feet, 6 inches
DRAFT: 7 feet, 6 inches
PERFORMANCE:
Max speed: 13 knots, 1945, 2,500 mile range
Econ. speed: 8.0 knots, 3,500 mile range
COMPLEMENT: 3 officers, 17 men (1960)
ARMAMENT: 1927: 1x 3"/27
1941: 1 x 3"/23, 2 x depth charge tracks
1945: 1 x 40mm/80 (single), 2 x 20mm/80 (single), 2 x depth charge tracks, 2 x mousetraps
1960: 1 x 40mm/60
Class History:
This class of vessels was one of the most useful and long- lasting in Coast Guard service with 16 cutters still in use in the 1960s. The last to be decommissioned from active service was the Morris in 1970; the last in actual service was the Cuyahoga, which sank after an accidental collision in 1978. They were designed for trailing the "mother ships" along the outer line of patrol during Prohibition. They were constructed at a cost of $63,173 each. They gained a reputation for durability that was only enhanced by their re-engining in the late 1930’s; their original 6-cylinder diesels were replaced by significantly more powerful 8-cylinder units that used the original engine beds and gave the vessels 3 additional knots. All served in World War II, but two, the Jackson and Bedloe, were lost in a storm in 1944. Ten were refitted as buoy tenders during the war and reverted to patrol work afterward.
Cutter History:
The Faunce was stationed at Boston, Massachusetts throughout her Coast Guard career. During World War II she also saw service on the Greenland Patrol as well as on escort-of-convoy and patrol duties.
She was decommissioned on 13 January 1948.
Sources:
Cutter History File. USCG Historian's Office, USCG HQ, Washington, D.C.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, DC: USGPO.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft of World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982.
Robert Scheina. U.S. Coast Guard Cutters & Craft, 1946-1990. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990.