Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: How many does it take to man a Barnegat-class seaplane?
For the next three months, Barnegat remained at Puget Sound, conducting sea trials and testing equipment, such as her large aircraft handling crane. The “years of operation of patrol planes in the Fleet and the increasingly important role played by these planes”[1] had also shown that the Lapwing-class converted minesweepers fell “far short of the characteristics needed”[2] for mobile tenders to operate patrol planes “where shore facilities were not available.”[3] This meant specifications that included a draft that would “permit entrance into the greater number of small harbors which might be suitable for seaplane anchorages,”[4] the ability to tend a 12-plane patrol squadron, high maneuverability, and the ability to contribute to her own defense.
"Hempstead" was to have been one of 41 "Barnegat"-class small seaplane tenders the U.S. Navy planned to commission during the early 1940s, and was to have been built at Houghton, Washington, by the Lake Washington Shipyard. However, by the spring of 1943 the Navy deemed that number of seaplane tenders excess to requirements, and decided to complete four of them as motor torpedo boat tenders and one as a catapult training ship. In addition, the Navy also decided to cancel six of the "Barnegat"-class ships prior to their construction, freeing up the diesel engines that would have powered them for use in escort vessels and amphibious landing craft.
The contract for the construction of was cancelled on 22 April 1943 before she was laid down.
"Metomkin" was to have been one of 41 "Barnegat"-class small seaplane tenders the U.S. Navy planned to commission during the early 1940s, and was to have been built at Houghton, Washington, by the Lake Washington Shipyard. However, by the spring of 1943 the Navy deemed that number of seaplane tenders excess to requirements, and decided to complete four of them as motor torpedo boat tenders and one as a catapult training ship. In addition, the Navy also decided to cancel six of the "Barnegat"-class ships prior to their construction, freeing up the diesel engines that would have powered them for use in escort vessels and amphibious landing craft.
 was one of four "Barnegat"-class ships to be converted during construction into a motor torpedo boat tender. She was in commission from 1943 to 1946, performing her World War II service in the Pacific, where she saw action in the New Guinea and Philippine campaigns. Stricken from the Navy List in 1946, she was reinstated as a seaplane tender in 1949 and kept in reserve until 1957. She was transferred to Italy in 1957, serving in the Italian Navy until 1993 as the special forces tender "Pietro Cavezzale" (A 5301).
In the spring of 1943, the U.S. Navy concluded that the number of "Barnegat"s ordered was excess to requirements. Four of them were converted during construction to motor torpedo boat tenders, while a fifth was modified during construction for use as a catapult training ship for battleship and cruiser floatplane pilots, her catapult equipment coming from that manufactured for canceled "Cleveland"-class light cruisers. Six other "Barnegat"s were canceled—four on 22 April 1943 and two more on 29 April 1943 – without having been laid down, their diesel engines being needed for various escort ships and amphibious landing craft.
Before World War II, the United States Navy foresaw a need for a large force of seaplane tenders in the event of a war in the Pacific, to allow air operations from undeveloped islands and atolls. Full-size seaplane tenders (AVs) were designed to support two squadrons of flying boats each, but they were more expensive to build and had a deep draft, precluding their use in shallow harbors. The U.S. Navy therefore also planned for "small seaplane tenders" (AVPs), with a shallower draft, capable of supporting only one squadron each, but cheaper to build and able to operate in shallow waters. The AVPs were not the descendants of the "seaplane tenders (destroyer)" (AVDs), which were converted from old destroyers because the Barnegat class could not be built quickly enough to meet the needs of the Navy at the start of the war. Both the full-size and small seaplane tenders were designed to provide supplies, spare parts, fuel, repairs, and berthing for assigned seaplane squadrons, and were well-armed so that they could serve as the primary line of defense of the seaplane bases they set up.
The combination of the post-World War II downsizing of the U.S. Navy and the decline of the seaplane and motor torpedo boat in U.S. naval operations meant that all but the newest ships decommissioned in 1946 and 1947. Those that did stay on in service as seaplane tenders decommissioned between the mid-1950s and 1960s, some seeing service in the Korean War (1950–1953). The last unit did not leave U.S. Navy service until 1973.
The "Barnegat" class was a large class of United States Navy small seaplane tenders (AVP) built during World War II. Thirty were completed as seaplane tenders, four as motor torpedo boat tenders, and one as a catapult training ship.
The contract for the construction of was cancelled on 22 April 1943 before she was laid down.
Between 1941 and 1946, the United States Navy acquired 35 "Barnegat"-class small seaplane tenders, designated "AVP" in the Navys alphanumeric hull numbering system and designed to logistically and administratively support a squadron of flying boats operating from undeveloped areas and, with a substantial anti-air, antisurface, and antisubmarine capability, to escort larger seaplane tenders. Most of them served during World War II, although even during the war the Navy determined the number of "Barnegat"s to be surplus to requirements; as a result, one was completed as a catapult training ship for Navy floatplane pilots (retaining its "AVP" designation) and four were converted during construction into motor torpedo boat tenders, redesignated "AGP".
The class was named for its lead unit, "Barnegat". A few of the ships were named after islands, but the vast majority were named after bodies of water, mostly bays and inlets, around the United States and the then-Territory of Alaska.
The second USS Barnegat (AVP-10), in commission from 1941 to 1946, was the lead ship of her class of small seaplane tenders built for the United States Navy just before and during World War II. She was the second U.S. Navy ship to bear that name.
"Kamishak" was to have been one of 41 "Barnegat"-class small seaplane tenders the U.S. Navy planned to commission during the early 1940s, and was to have been built at Houghton, Washington, by the Lake Washington Shipyard. However, by the spring of 1943 the Navy deemed that number of seaplane tenders excess to requirements, and decided to complete four of them as motor torpedo boat tenders and one as a catapult training ship. In addition, the Navy also decided to cancel six of the "Barnegat"-class ships prior to their construction, freeing up the diesel engines that would have powered them for use in escort vessels and amphibious landing craft.
 was in commission from 1943 to 1946, performing her World War II service in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She was among three "Barnegat"-class ships selected in 1945 for conversion to a press information ship, redesignated AG-123, for the projected invasion of Japan in 1945–1946, but the war ended before the invasion could take place and she was converted back into a seaplane tender. She was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard postwar as , later WAGO-377, WHEC-377, and WOLE-377, and was in commissioned Coast Guard service from 1948 to 1972.
Three "Barnegat"s were selected in 1945 for conversion to press information ships in anticipation of the 1945–1946 invasion of Japan, but when the war ended without this invasion being necessary they were converted back into seaplane tenders.
"Hatteras" was to have been one of 41 "Barnegat"-class small seaplane tenders the U.S. Navy planned to commission during the early 1940s, and was to have been built at Houghton, Washington, by the Lake Washington Shipyard. However, by the spring of 1943 the Navy deemed that number of seaplane tenders excess to requirements, and decided to complete four of them as motor torpedo boat tenders and one as a catapult training ship. In addition, the Navy also decided to cancel six of the "Barnegat"-class ships prior to their construction, freeing up the diesel engines that would have powered them for use in escort vessels and amphibious landing craft.
The contract for the construction of was cancelled on 22 April 1943 before she was laid down.
The contract for the construction of was cancelled on 22 April 1943 before she was laid down.
 was in commission from 1941 to 1946, performing her World War II service in the Atlantic. She was among three "Barnegat"-class ships selected in 1945 for conversion to a press information ship, redesignated AG-122, for the projected invasion of Japan in 1945–1946, but the war ended before the invasion could take place and she was converted back into a seaplane tender. She was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard postwar as , later WHEC-373, and was in commissioned Coast Guard service from 1949 to 1968.
USS "Suisun" (AVP-53) was a United States Navy "Barnegat"-class small seaplane tender in commission from 1944 to 1955. It was named for northern California's Suisun Bay, which takes its name from the Native American Suisun tribe.
 was one of four "Barnegat"-class ships to be converted during construction into a motor torpedo boat tender. She was in commission from 1944 to 1946, performing her World War II service in the Pacific, where she saw action in the Philippine and Borneo campaigns. She was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard postwar as , later WHEC-387 and WAGW-387, and was in commissioned Coast Guard service until 1973.
USS "Valcour" (AVP-55), later AGF-1, was a Barnegat-class seaplane tender of the United States Navy, in commission as a seaplane tender from 1946 to 1965 and as a flagship from 1965 to 1973.
 was laid down as a seaplane tender, then was chosen as one of four "Barnegat"-class ships to be converted to a motor torpedo boat tender prior to completion and redesignated AGP-6, but ultimately was completed as a seaplane tender, with her sister ship becoming the motor torpedo tender AGP-6 instead. She was in commission from 1943 to 1946, performing her World War II service in the Pacific, where she saw action in the New Guinea campaign and the Philippines campaign. She was transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard postwar as , later WHEC-378, and was in commissioned Coast Guard service from 1948 to 1969.
"Matanzas" was to have been one of 41 "Barnegat"-class small seaplane tenders the U.S. Navy planned to commission during the early 1940s, and was to have been built at Houghton, Washington, by the Lake Washington Shipyard. However, by the spring of 1943 the Navy deemed that number of seaplane tenders excess to requirements, and decided to complete four of them as motor torpedo boat tenders and one as a catapult training ship. In addition, the Navy also decided to cancel six of the "Barnegat"-class ships prior to their construction, freeing up the diesel engines that would have powered them for use in escort vessels and amphibious landing craft.