Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!ukma!rutgers!att!cbnews!budden@manta.nosc.mil
From: budden@manta.nosc.mil (Rex A. Buddenberg)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: US Naval Craft Designations
Message-ID: <6098@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 1 May 89 03:01:37 GMT
References: <5855@cbnews.ATT.COM> <6027@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Lines: 36
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: budden@manta.nosc.mil (Rex A. Buddenberg)
A few more.

Icebreakers are designated AGB if they are in the Navy.
Since they are all in the Coast Guard (since the
mid 60s), we call them WAGBs -- aka White Arctic
Garbage Barges...until we painted them red in
the early 70s.

Large cutters are currently designated WHEC -- High
endurance cutter.  Since various classes of
large, now retired, cutters came from diverse sources,
we used to have AVP's -- seaplane tenders -- which we
called WAVPs for several years.  Campbell class cutters
were WPG  (patrol gunboats) for many years before becoming
WHECs.  

WMECs are medium endurance cutters; we currently have two
classes in service, 210 and 270 feet LOA.

WPBs are, intuitively, patrol boats.

WLBs and WLMs are buoy tenders -- ocean and coastal
respectively.

Lessee...WSES -- one squadron of surface effect ships.

And the cadet trivia question: WSUB.  Gotcha! It's
a radio station in Groton Ct.

Rex Buddenberg


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