Erie-class gunboat

The Erie class gunboats were a class of gunboats built by the United States prior to World War II. The class was designed in 1932. The United States Navy commissioned 2 Erie-class gunboats in 1936. Eries had a design speed of 20 knots, and a main armament of four 6" guns in single mounts with four 1.1" quadruple mount anti-aircraft guns.

Design & Development
At the London Naval Conference 1930, the senior U.S. Navy advisor, Admiral William Veazie Pratt, successfully argued for the inclusion a new, unlimited in number by the treaty, class of naval surface combatants. These sloops, per Article VIII(b) of the Treaty, would not have a displacement exceeding 2,000 tons, no torpedo tubes, a maximum crusing speed of 20 knots, and up to four guns above 3.1 inch in caliber, but not to exceed 6.1 inch in caliber.

Captain Royal E. Ingersoll, later admiral, then head of the Fleet Training Division, outlined the operational roles proposed for the Erie class gunboats. They would include: screening against destroyers and submarines, high-speed mine laying, tactical control of fleet submarines, antiaircraft duty for slower carriers, support of destroyer attacks, convoying operations, and support of amphibious landing operations. The new gunboats would be useful in convoy operations due to its anti-submarine warfare capabilities. They would also help relieve the U.S. Navies destroyer deficit of the time. The gunboats 6" guns would also be useful against merchant raiders.

Admiral Pratt informally requested the Construction & Engineering begin creating preliminary designs for a gunboat destined for Central American service at a General Board meeting in late January 1931. With its limited draft and impressive firepower it would also be useful in peace time for showing the flag in Central and South American ports or in the Far East. After the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and other attempts to expand influence throughout the area Pratt was convinced that the new class patrol gunboat would be useful in protecting U.S. interests in that part of the world as well.

Between August 1931 and September 7, 1932, seven preliminary schemes, lettered A thru G, were drawn up. In the Department of the Navy Annual Report for the federal fiscal year 1932, covering Navy operations thru September 15, 1932, the Secretary of the Navy Department, Charles Francis Adams III, summarized the work by the Navy design staff on the Erie class gunboats as follows: "A number of outline sketches of a new type 2,000 ton gunboat, illustrating a half dozen or more design conceptions, have been prepared, some in considerable detail."

The General Board concluded at its November 1932 meeting that it would recommend that a 2,000-ton gunboat be built based on a modified version of scheme G. It would feature a clipped bow with a counter stern. The main batteries would be outfitted with four, single, 6" guns of either 47 or 48 caliber. These would be mounted two fore and two aft. A single floatplane, located amidships and offloaded and retrieved by crane, was also added at Admiral Pratt's insistence.

Funding
US president Herbert Hoover called for a special session of Congress in July 1930 to ratify the terms of the London Treaty. With Congress ratifing the treaty on July 21, the Navy and Congress had the expectation that the Navy would be built up to the treaty limits. It was soon realized by Admiral Pratt that with the worsening economy and pacifist President Hoover the construction of new or replacement ships would be severely limited. That December Admiral Pratt reported to Congress that the buildup to the treaty limits would not be able to occur before 1936 and would cost in excess of $1 billion, if authorized. However, even woresening economic conditions and concern with the 1932 national elections, the fate of naval construction in the US was sealed. Not a single new ship was authorized for construction during Herbert Hoover's presidential term, he even cut the limited funds that had been appropriated for construction in fiscal year 1932, suspended all construction in fiscal year 1933 and compelled the Navy to reduce operational expenses severely.

Even with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in November 1932, neither the building up of the US Navy to the limits of the London Naval treaty, nor the construction of any Erie-class gunboats, did not seem like a sure thing. Roosevelt had expressed support for an adequate navy during the election campaign but had never really elaborated on his position. It would be left up to Claude Swanson, Roosevelt's appointed Secretary of the Navy, and Carl Vinson, Chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee, to begin advocating for the build up of the Navy to the limits of the London Naval Treaty, even before Roosevelt's inauguration in March 1933.

In order to gain Congressional and Presidential approval of funding, for a navy that they felt concern for both the age of vessels in the US fleet and the lack of new ship construction, they made some fairly simple economic arguments. Stressing, both publicly and privately, that new ship construction would enhance employment figures substantively because shipyard records indicated that 85% of construction dollars were spent on labor costs and that if the anticipated public works funding program, NIRA, were used for ship construction the contracts for new ships could be awarded within 90 days of authorization with actual construction beginning almost immediately thereafter.

When Roosevelt signed NIRA into law on June, 16, 1933, he had been convinced that it would be used to fund construction of new ships to create jobs in both public and private shipyards. Section 209(e) allowed for the President, within the terms and conditions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930, to authorize the construction of naval vessels. That same day Roosevelt signed an executive order giving approval to the expenditure of $238 million, over three years, for the construction of 32 new ships, this also included provisions for two Erie-class gunboats.

Henry L. Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, accounced, within a week of NIRA being signed, that the construction of the two Erie-class gunboats would be awarded to the New York Naval Yard and the Charleston Naval Yard, at a cost reported anywhere from $2 million and $4 million in various press accounts. Later, in December 1937, at hearings before the House Appropriations Committee, it was reported by the Navy Department that the cost of ERIE's construction and machiery was actually $4,700,216 with her armor, armament and ammunition costing an addition $1,347,000, for a total cost of $6,047,216. In less than 90 days, September 1, 1933, the contracts for the construction of all 32 NIRA funded vessels, and their names, was announced by the Navy Department.