to build effective warships more cheaply and efficiently. MARCOM had hoped that the US Navy, some members of which doubted that the commercial shipyards 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 US 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 US Navy all were named after small cities in the United States. Construction program In November 1942, MARCOM gave its West Coast Regional Office the responsibility for coordinating the construction of the ships of the Tacoma class, which were to be split between commercial shipyards on the United States West Coast and five shipyards on the Great Lakes, the latter in particular chosen because they had building ways available for use in the Tacoma program. MARCOM tendered a contract to Kaiser Cargo, Inc., of Oakland, California, to prepare detailed specifications based on the Gibbs & Cox design and to manage the overall construction program. On 8 December 1942, MARCOM contracted for 69 Tacoma-class ships, for which the US Navy dropped the British "corvette" designation in favor of classifying the Tacomas (along with the two Asheville-class ships that preceded them) as "patrol gunboats" (PG); on 15 April 1943, the two Ashevilles and all Tacomas were reclassified as "patrol frigates" (PF). Kaiser Cargo itself received an order for 12 ships; the Consolidated Steel Corporation, of Wilmington, California, received an order for 18; the American Ship Building Company, received an order for 11, with four to be built at Cleveland, Ohio, and eight at Lorain, Ohio; the Walter Butler Shipbuilding Company, of Superior, Wisconsin, received an order for 12; Froemming Brothers, Inc., of Milwaukee, received an order for four; the Globe Shipbuilding Company, of Superior, Wisconsin, received an order for eight; and the Leathem D.