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The ''Tacoma'' class of patrol frigates served in the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War. The class is named for its lead ship, , which in turn was named for the city of Tacoma, Washington. Ships of the class also served in the British Royal Navy – in which they were known as Colony-class frigates – and the Soviet Navy during World War II. ''Tacoma''-class ships served in the United States Coast Guard and various navies post-World War II. ==Design== In 1942, the success of German submarines against Allied shipping and the shortage of escorts with which to protect Allied sea lines of communication convinced U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt of a need to engage mercantile shipbuilders in the construction of warships for escort duty. The United States Maritime Commission, which oversaw the wartime merchant shipbuilding program, proposed to meet this requirement by building a version of the British River-class frigate, a Royal Navy ship type based on a mercantile design in British shipyards experienced in building commercial ships.〔Russell, Richard A., ''Project Hula: Secret Soviet-American Cooperation in the War Against Japan'', Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1997, ISBN 0-945274-35-1, p. 22.〕〔Gardiner, Robert, ed., ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946'', New York: Mayflower Books, 1980, ISBN 0-8317-0303-2, pp. 148-149.〕 Two River-class ships under construction in Montreal, Canada, as (for the Royal Navy) and (for the Royal Canadian Navy), were transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1942 prior to completion as prototypes for the ''Tacoma'' class and became the ''Asheville''-class and , respectively. The naval architecture firm of Gibbs & Cox designed the ''Tacoma'' class by modifying the River class to American requirements. The ''Tacoma''-class units were designed and armed to serve mostly as anti-submarine warfare ships. They were distinguished from the River class primarily by their pole (instead of the British tripod) foremast and lighter main guns, 3-inch (76.2-mm) instead of the British 4-inch (102-mm), and they had an American rather than British powerplant and were designed to take advantage of American construction techniques employing prefabrication. Unlike most other types of warship, the ''Tacoma''s, like the Rivers, were built to mercantile standards. With the proven effectiveness of the River class on escort duty, the Maritime Commission hoped that the mercantile design of the ''Tacoma''s would allow the commercial shipyards to build them more cheaply and efficiently and that the U.S. Navy, some members of which doubted that the commercial shipyard could build a sturdy enough warship, would accept them because of the proven service record of the River-class ships which inspired their design.〔〔 The resulting ships had a greater range than the superficially similar destroyer escorts, but the U.S. Navy viewed them as decidedly inferior in all other respects. The ''Tacoma'' class had a much larger turning circle than a destroyer escort, lacked sufficient ventilation for warm-weather operations – a reflection of their original British design and its emphasis on operations in the North Atlantic Ocean – and were criticized as far too hot below decks, and, because of the mercantile style of their hulls, had far less resistance to underwater explosions than ships built to naval standards like the destroyer escorts.〔 Like their predecessors ''Asheville'' and ''Natchez'', the ''Tacoma''-class ships built for the U.S. Navy all were named after small cities in the United States.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tacoma-class frigate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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