Alternate U.S. Navy: Destroyers

Destroyers

Flivver Destroyers

The U.S. Navy's first generation destroyers were nicknamed "flivvers" due to their small size and shaky physical build in comparison to later classes.

Bainbridge Class (1898)

Truxtun Class (1898)

Smith Class (1906 ⁄ 1907)

The Smith class was considered the U.S. Navy's first ocean-going destroyer class, tasked with screening fleets against enemy destroyers and torpedo boats and also acting as long-range torpedo boats. Later on, they were also tasked with submarine hunting. Three were authorized in 1906 and two in 1907; the latter are sometimes designated the Flusser class.

The Smiths were based on the preceding Truxtun class destroyers, but substantially enlarged at a standard displacement of 700 tons and fitted with turbine machinery in a three-shaft configuration with a high-pressure turbine on the center shaft and low-pressure turbines on the outboard shafts. The outboard shafts were also fitted with seperate cruising turbines. Steam was provided by four coal-fired boilers.

Main Armament: Five 3"⁄50 naval guns in single open mounts, placed one forward, two amidships (one on each side), and two aft.
Secondary Armament: Three 18" tubes for Whitehead Mark 1 torpedoes in single mounts, placed two amidships (one on each side) and one aft.
Tertiary Armament: (WWI Refit) One or two depth charge tracks, placed at the stern.

Paulding ⁄ Roe Class (1908 ⁄ 1909 ⁄ 1910)

The Paulding class was an improved version of the Smith class. Twenty-one of these destroyers were built, with ten authorized in 1908, five in 1909, and six in 1910. Some sources designate the 1909 and 1910 ships as Monaghan class, while others divide out a Roe subclass with modified characteristics (see below).

The Pauldings were slightly enlarged to a standard displacement of 750 tons and were fitted with oil-filed rather than coal-fired boilers, still in the same three-shaft, three-turbine configuration. The Roe subclass had three stacks instead of four, with the #2 and #3 boiler uptakes trunked together into a larger center stack. Six of the first ten (-24 through -27, -30, and -31), three of the second five (-32, -34, and -36), and three of the final six (-37, -39, and -40) were built in this configuration. In addition, five of the ships had integrated cruising stages in their outboard turbines rather than seperate cruising turbines.

Main Armament: Five 3"⁄50 naval guns in single open mounts, placed one forward, two amidships (one on each side), and two aft.
Secondary Armament: Six 18" tubes for Whitehead Mark 1 torpedoes in three twin mounts, placed two amidships (one on each side) and one aft.
Tertiary Armament: (WWI Refit) One or two depth charge tracks, placed at the stern.

Thousand Ton Destroyers

The "Thousand Tonners" were a set of five second generation destroyer classes which served as the U.S. Navy's workhorses throughout the early dreadnought era. They were good boats for their era and steadily improved based on operational experience, although their small size meant that seaworthiness was always somewhat limited. Congress authorized four Cassin and four Aylwin classes in 1912, six O'Brien class in 1913, six Tucker class in 1914, and six Sampson class in 1915. All served in World War I, several served with the Coast Guard "Rum Patrol" postwar, and all were scrapped in 1934-1936, save for USS Allen (DD-66) which served on into World War II.

Propulsion was the most significant area of development between these incrementally improved classes:

The Cassin and Aylwin half-classes had two 8,000 horsepower direct-drive steam turbines turning two shafts plus variable triple expansion cruising engines; DD-43 and DD-44 had a cruising engine on one shaft only, while all others had cruising engines for both shafts.
The O'Brien class repeated the two shaft turbine and VTE arrangement, but increased output to a combined 17,000 horsepower so that only half a knot was lost due to the four-inch increase in beam.
The Tucker class had the same direct-drive main turbines, but replaced the VTE cruising engines with a single geared cruising turbine on one shaft.
As a one-off experiment, USS Wadsworth (DD-60) had two Curtis geared steam turbines turning her shafts and no cruising engines. Combined output was 17,500 horsepower, bringing rated speed back to 29.5 knots.
The Sampson class again had the same direct-drive main turbines; half of the class had one geared cruising turbine, and the other half had two geared cruising turbines.

The 4"⁄50 Mark 9 gun on these destroyers was a significant upgrade over the previous 3"⁄50, with good handling and a high muzzle velocity. All destroyers had four of these guns, with a single mounting on the raised forecastle, two "waist" mountings amidships, and a single mounting at the stern; three guns could bear in most directions. On most thousand-tonners the waist guns were located just aft of the forecastle break, but on the final Sampson class they were moved aft onto raised "bandstands" between the second and third funnels, which reduced their firing angles but made the gun positions far less wet. The Sampsons also gained two Maxim-Nordenfeldt 1-pounder Mark 6 or Mark 7 anti-aircraft autocannons, one placed on the forecastle aft of the forward 4"e; gun and one placed aft.

USS Benham (DD-49) was fitted with four twin 4"e; mounts in 1917, but does not appear to have been successful as she was switched back to single mounts by the time she deployed overseas later that year. The twin 4"e; would be tested again on three of the flush-deck destroyers, again unsuccessfully.

Torpedo armament was four mounts, two amidships on each side. The General Board favored side over centreline tubes as this allowed for two salvoes and the previous "flivvers" had experienced occasional clearance issues with their single centreline tube. The Cassin&fraslAylwin class had 18" twin tubes for Whitehead Mark 1, the O'Brien and Tucker classes had larger 21" twin tubes for Bliss-Leavitt Mark 8, and the Sampson class had 21" triple tubes for Bliss-Leavitt Mark 8.

Flush Deck Destroyers

The flush deck destroyers, also known as the "four piper" destroyers, were a set of three classes of second generation destroyers. Further enlarged and technologically improved over the "thousand tonners", these were produced in tremendous numbers due to the outbreak of World War I.

Caldwell Class (1915)

The Caldwell class were further evolutionary improvements over preceding U.S. Navy destroyers. Six of these destroyers were authorized in 1915.

The Caldwells marked a temporary pause in the previously relentless growth of American destroyers, shrinking slightly to 1020 tons standard displacement. The most significant change in this class was the introduction of a flush-deck design with the forecastle extending the entire length of the hull, which was repeated in all other "four pipers". The longstanding practice of building half of the new destroyers with four stacks and half with three stacks was repeated for the last time in this class.

Although there were no official sub-classes, there were substantial differences in machinery between the ships:

Caldwell (DD-69) was built with two reduction geared Curtis turbines turning two shafts, plus two cruising turbines connected via "electric speed reducing gear".
Craven (DD-70), Gwin (DD-71), and Manley (DD-74) were built with two reduction geared Curtis turbines turning two shafts.
Conner (DD-72) and Stockton (DD-73) were built with the same three-shaft direct turbine arrangement as prior USN destroyers: a high-pressure turbine on the centerline shaft and two low-pressure turbines on the outboard shafts). A reduction geared cruising turbine was added on the center shaft for more efficient low speed operation.

Main Armament: Four 4"⁄50 Mark 9 naval guns in single open mounts, placed one forward, two amidships (one on each side), and one aft.
Secondary Armament: Twelve 21" tubes for Bliss-Leavitt Mark 8 torpedoes in four triple mounts, placed all amidships (two on each side).
Tertiary Armament: Two Maxim-Nordenfeldt 1-pounder Mark 6 or Mark 7 anti-aircraft autocannons; (WWI Refit) Depth charges; typically one Y-gun projector amidships and one depth charge track aft.

Wickes Class (1916)

Main Armament: Four 4"⁄50 Mark 9 naval guns in single open mounts, placed one forward, two amidships (one on each side on raised "bandstands"), and one aft.
Secondary Armament: Twelve 21" tubes for Bliss-Leavitt Mark 8 torpedoes in four triple mounts, placed all amidships (two on each side).
Tertiary Armament: (WWI Refit) One 3"⁄23 Mark 14 anti-aircraft gun, placed behind the bow 4" mount.; (WWI Refit) Depth charges; typically one Y-gun projector amidships and one depth charge track aft.

Clemson Class (1917)

Main Armament: Four 4"⁄50 Mark 9 naval guns in single open mounts, placed one forward, two amidships (one on each side), and one aft.
Secondary Armament: Twelve 21" tubes for Bliss-Leavitt Mark 8 torpedoes in four triple mounts, placed amidships (two on each side).
Tertiary Armament: (WWI Refit) One 3"⁄23 Mark 14 anti-aircraft gun, placed behind the bow 4" mount.; (WWI Refit) Depth charges; typically one Y-gun projector amidships and one depth charge track aft.

Treaty Era Destroyers

The massive number of flush-deck destroyers built during and immediately after WWI led to a twelve-year hiatus in U.S. Navy destroyer designs.

When construction resumed, new destroyer designs were bound by the limits agreed upon in the London Naval Treaty: a standard displacement of no more than 1,850 tons and guns of up to 5.1" (130mm). The United States was permitted a total of 150,000 tons of destroyers, but no more than 16% of this tonnage could be used for destroyers over 1,500 tons. This worked out to eighty-four 1,500 ton destroyers (the Farragut, Mahan, Gridley, Bagley, Benham, and Sims classes) and thirteen 1,850 ton large destroyers (the Porter and Somers classes).

A Class Large Destroyer

In the absence of treaty restrictions on size, an "unlimited" counterpart to the treaty era destroyers would certainly be above 2000 tons standard displacement as an American reply to France's large destroyers of 2100 to 3000 tons.

The "A" Class destroyers are built around a gun armament of eight 5"⁄38 Mark 12 dual-purpose guns in four two-gun turrets and a torpedo armament of sixteen 21" torpedo tubes in four quadruple mounts. The guns are arranged in forward and aft superfiring pairs, while the torpedoes are amidships, continuing the General Board's preference for side over centerline torpedo placement. No additional anti-aircraft guns would be seen as necessary at the time of construction, although as many 40mm Bofors and 20mm Oerlikon as possible would inevitably be fitted later on. A late WWWII refit would likely involve two of the torpedo mounts being replaced by two quad 40mm Bofors. Two convertible mine ⁄ depth charge racks and four Y-gun projectors are also fitted at the stern.

The hull design of the "A" class is designed to address the issues experienced with prior U.S. Navy destroyers, featuring a clipper bow and raised forecastle, flat transom stern, and as high a freeboard as possible. With hull dimensions on the order of 400' in length and a 38' beam, a combined output of 60,000 horsepower is necessary for a design speed of 35-36 knots. This is achieved with six oil-fired Babock & Wilcox boilers providing 400 psi ⁄ 645 F superheated steam to a pair of single reduction geared turbines. The exhausts are trunked to a three-stack configuration.

As with the historical treaty destroyers, follow-on classes maintain the same armament while continually evolving propulsion technology. Air-encased boilers would increase operating pressure to 600 psi ⁄ 850 F, feeding smaller, more efficient turbines with double reduction gearing and integrated cruising stages. This would allow a reduction to four boilers and two stacks while at the same time increasing performance to 37-38 knots.

B Class Destroyer

Even in the absence of any treaty restrictions, a destroyer designed with the extremely heavy armament the U.S. Navy desired would clearly be too large and expensive to be its sole destroyer class. As a result, a second set of destroyer classes would be developed with the intent of being substantially smaller than the "A" but still outperforming rival treaty destroyers.

The "B" Class destroyers are designed with a gun armament of eight 5"⁄38 Mark 12 dual purpose guns in two dual-purpose and two single-purpose mounts and a torpedo armament of ten 21" torpedo tubes in two quintuple mounts. The guns are arranged in forward and aft superfiring pairs with the substantially lighter SP mounts above the DP mounts. At the time, the General Board felt that split SP⁄DP armament was preferable to having only six guns in an all-DP configuration or eight in all-SP but requiring secondary guns for AA. The torpedoes are mounted amidships on the centerline. As with the "A" class, two convertible depth charge ⁄ mine racks and four Y-gun projectors are also fitted at the stern.

Follow-on classes maintain the same armament while advancing to three 600 PSI boilers trunked to a single stack, producing a distinctive appearance.

C Class Destroyers

Given its prior experience with the need for extremely large numbers of destroyers for convoy escort during World War I, the U.S. Navy also develops a contingency design for a much smaller destroyer escort as part of its 1930 destroyer design series. This design is then refreshed with minor updates at regular intervals. The 1940 update of the "C" class ultimately enters production for World War II, first as an export for allied nations and then also for domestic use.

The "C" Class destroyers have a gun armament of four 5"⁄38 Mark 12 dual purpose guns in two dual-purpose mounts and a torpedo armament of five 21" torpedo tubes in one quintuple mount. The guns are arranged with one mount forward and one mount aft, and the torpedoes are mounted amidships on the centerline. Since they are expected to be primarily used as convoy escorts, they also include a comprehensive antisubmarine fit of two extended capacity depth charge racks and eight Y-gun projectors.

A key feature of the "C"s is that since the design is oriented towards emergency mass production, they are made to avoid components which are predicted to be production bottlenecks, while otherwise making maximum use of common components with the current iterations of the "A" and "B" type destroyers. For example, they are configured with turboelectric propulsion in order to avoid the need for reduction gearing sets.

(Due to the dramatically increased size and cost of the alternate U.S. Navy's fleet destroyers, pre-developing a low cost mass production design is a straightforward strategic contingency plan.)