In 1916, the then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the US Navy to design a small anti-submarine vessel that could be built quickly in small civilian boatyards, as if war came, larger shipyards would be busy building larger warships.
Consideration was given to adopting an 80 ft (24 m) wooden Motor Launch built in large numbers by ELCO for the British Royal Navy, but the General Board of the United States Navy thought that these boats were too small to be effective seaboats.
The task of designing the new type was given to an experienced designer of small boats, Albert Loring Swasey.
He drew up a design for a 100 ft (30 m) wooden boat, emphasizing seaworthiness over speed.
At first it was intended to use two 300 brake horsepower (220 kW) engines, but a shortage of these engines resulted in the design being changed to use three 220 hp (160 kW) gasoline engines.

Armament was initially planned to be two 3-inch (76 mm) guns, but the aft gun was usually replaced by a depth charge thrower to attack submerged submarines, with two Colt machine guns completing the armament.
Many boats were fitted with hydrophones for detecting underwater noises, with either a K-tube fish-type device of 30-mile (48 km) range or SC and MB tubes of 5-mile (8.0 km) range.

An initial order of 345 SC boats placed in 1917 was planned to be delivered by the end of 1917, with further orders for the French Navy pushing the total ordered up to 448.
In 1916, the then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the US Navy to design a small anti-submarine vessel that could be built quickly in small civilian boatyards, as if war came, larger shipyards would be busy building larger warships. Consideration was given to adopting an 80 ft (24 m) wooden Motor Launch built in large numbers by ELCO for the British Royal Navy, but the General Board of the United States Navy thought that these boats were too small to be effective seaboats. The task of designing the new type was given to an experienced designer of small boats, Albert Loring Swasey. He drew up a design for a 100 ft (30 m) wooden boat, emphasizing seaworthiness over speed. At first it was intended to use two 300 brake horsepower (220 kW) engines, but a shortage of these engines resulted in the design being changed to use three 220 hp (160 kW) gasoline engines.
Armament was initially planned to be two 3-inch (76 mm) guns, but the aft gun was usually replaced by a depth charge thrower to attack submerged submarines, with two Colt machine guns completing the armament. Many boats were fitted with hydrophones for detecting underwater noises, with either a K-tube fish-type device of 30-mile (48 km) range or SC and MB tubes of 5-mile (8.0 km) range.
An initial order of 345 SC boats placed in 1917 was planned to be delivered by the end of 1917, with further orders for the French Navy pushing the total ordered up to 448.
SC-1-class submarine chaser