[2] It was proposed that the Eries could be used in a large number of roles, including: screening the fleet against enemy submarines and destroyers, anti-submarine warfare during convoy duty, tactical control of fleet submarines, support of destroyer attacks, antiaircraft duty for slower carriers, high-speed mine laying, and support of amphibious landing operations.

They could also relieve destroyers, that were in short supply at the time, the 6-inch guns could be useful against merchant raiders, and with its shallow draft and heavy firepower they could be used to "show the flag" in Central and South American and Far East ports during peacetime.

The General Board recommend at its November 1932 meeting that a 2,000-ton gunboat be built based on a modified version of scheme G. The ship would feature a clipper bow with a counter stern.

[2] US President Herbert Hoover called for a special session of the United States Congress in July 1930, to ratify the terms of the London Treaty.

[2] With the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president in November 1932, neither the building up of the US Navy to the limits of the London Naval treaty, nor the construction of any Erie-class gunboats, seemed like a sure thing.

[2] In order to gain Congressional and Presidential approval of funding, for a navy that they felt concern for both the age of vessels in the US fleet and the lack of new ship construction, they made some fairly simple economic arguments.

[2] When Roosevelt signed NIRA into law on 16 June 1933, he had been convinced that it would be used to fund construction of new ships to create jobs in both public and private shipyards.

That same day Roosevelt signed an executive order giving approval to the expenditure of $238 million, over three years, for the construction of 32 new ships, this also included provisions for two Erie-class gunboats.