Lake-class cutters as wartime escorts

The Lake class is compared with contemporary sloops because its endurance, turbine-electric machinery, and 16-knot speed suited escort and presence work. A range of 7,542 nautical miles at 12 knots gave the cutters the reach needed for convoy duty. As built, they carried a 5-inch/51 gun, a 3-inch/50 gun, and two 6-pounders. Later U.S. fits grew heavier, while Royal Navy service brought 20 mm Oerlikons and .303 machine guns alongside the larger weapons. Three of the ten ships were lost in World War II, and the other seven were eventually scrapped. Long-range cutters built for peacetime work could thus be adapted as wartime escorts.