Fletcher-class destroyer


The Fletcher class was a class of destroyers built by the United States during World War II. The class was designed in 1939, as a result of dissatisfaction with the earlier destroyer leader types of the Porter and Somers classes. Some went on to serve during the Korean War and into the Vietnam War.
The United States Navy commissioned 175 Fletcher-class destroyers between 1942 and 1944, more than any other destroyer class, and the design was generally regarded as highly successful. Fletchers had a design speed of 38 knots and a principal armament of five 5" guns in single mounts with ten 21" torpedoes in two quintuple centerline mounts. The Allen M. Sumner and Gearing classes were Fletcher derivatives.
The long-range Fletcher-class ships performed every task asked of a destroyer, from anti-submarine warfare and anti-aircraft warfare to surface action. They could cover the vast distances required by fleet actions in the Pacific and served almost exclusively in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, during which they accounted for 29 Imperial Japanese Navy submarines sunk. In a massive effort, the Fletchers were built by shipyards across the United States and, after World War II ended, 11 were sold to countries that they had been built to fight against: Italy, Germany, and Japan, as well as other countries, where they had even longer, distinguished careers. Three have been preserved as museum ships in the U.S. and one in Greece.

Description

The Fletcher class was the largest class of destroyer ordered, and was also one of the most successful and popular with the destroyer men themselves. Compared to earlier classes built for the Navy, they carried a significant increase in anti-aircraft weapons and other weaponry, which caused displacements to rise. Their flush deck construction added structural strength, although it did make them rather cramped, as less space was available below decks compared with a raised forecastle.

Design

The Fletcher-class was the first generation of destroyers designed after the series of Naval Treaties that had limited ship designs heretofore. The growth in the design was in part to answer a question that always dogged U.S. Navy designs, that being the long range required by operations in the Pacific Ocean. They were also to carry no fewer than five guns and ten deck-mounted torpedo tubes on the centerline, allowing them to meet any foreign design on equal terms. Compared to earlier designs, the Fletchers were large, allowing them to eventually absorb the addition of two 40 mm Bofors quadruple mount AA guns as well as six 20 mm Oerlikon dual AA gun positions. This addition to the AA suite required the deletion of the forward quintuple torpedo mount, a change done under the 4 April 1945 anti-kamikaze program.
Fletchers were also much less top-heavy than previous classes, allowing them to take on additional equipment and weapons without major redesign. They were fortunate in catching American production at the right moment, becoming "the" destroyer design, and only Fletcher-class derivatives, the Sumner and Gearing classes, would follow it. The first design inputs were in the fall of 1939 from questionnaires distributed around design bureaus and the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. The design parameters were the armaments desired of the next destroyer. As such, the questions were of how many guns, torpedoes, and depth charges were seen as desirable. Also asked was at what point would the design grow large enough to become a torpedo target instead of a torpedo delivery system. The answer that came back was that five dual purpose guns, twelve torpedoes, and twenty-eight depth charges would be ideal, while a return to the 1500-ton designs of the past was seen as undesirable. Speed requirements varied from, and shortcomings in the earlier Sims class, which were top heavy and needed lead ballast to correct this fault, caused the Fletcher design to be widened by of beam. As with other previous U.S. flush deck destroyer designs, seagoing performance suffered. This was mitigated by deployment to the Pacific Ocean, which is relatively calm.
To achieve with a 500-ton increase in displacement, shaft horsepower was increased from 50,000 to 60,000 compared to the previous Benson and Gleaves classes. The Fletchers featured air-encased boilers producing steam at and, with emergency diesel generators providing 80 kW of electric power. Typically, Babcock & Wilcox boilers and General Electric geared steam turbines were equipped, although other designs and manufacturers were probably used to maximize the rate of production.

Armament

The main gun armament of the Fletcher was five dual-purpose 5 inch/38 caliber guns in single Mk-30 turrets, guided by a Mark 37 Gun Fire Control System, including a Mk 12 fire control radar and a Mk 22 height-finder linked by a Mark 1A Fire Control Computer and stabilized by a Mk 6 8,500 rpm gyroscope.
Ten torpedo tubes were fitted in two quintuple mounts on the centerline amidships, firing the 21-inch Mark 15 torpedo. Anti-submarine armament was two depth charge racks for 600-pound charges at the stern, augmented by six K-gun depth charge throwers for 300-pound charges amidships.
Besides the main dual-purpose guns, initial anti-aircraft armament was light; a quadruple 1.1"/75 caliber gun, and six Oerlikon 20 mm cannons. Beginning in June 1942, the 1.1" gun was replaced by a twin Bofors 40 mm gun mount, plus another twin mount on the fantail between the depth charge racks. In February 1943, the fantail-mounted Bofors was removed, and instead, one twin mount was placed on each side of the aft funnel, bringing the total number of 40 mm barrels to six. In 1942 and 1943, the number of Oerlikon cannons was steadily increased. Ships were often modified before leaving the shipyard with a seventh 20 mm mount in front of the bridge behind the number two 5"/38 caliber gun mount, and anywhere from one to three mounts on the flying bridge depending upon the bridge configuration of the ship. In combat, commanders often requisitioned additional guns, and some Fletchers mounted up to thirteen 20 mm cannons. In June and July 1943, two more twin Bofors mounts were added in place of the 20 mm cannons in front of and below the bridge, giving a total of ten barrels. With this modification, the Oerlikon cannons were rearranged and their number was standardized at seven; four amidships and three in a heart-shaped mount on the fantail.
Due to the increasing threat from kamikaze attacks, beginning in July 1945 some ships returning to the United States for refit received further antiaircraft modifications, replacing the forward set of quintuple torpedo tubes with a large gun platform housing two quadruple 40 mm guns. The seven single 20 mm guns were replaced with six twin mounts.
Three were built with aircraft catapults, resulting in the deletion of the rear torpedo tube mount and number 3 5-inch gun mount. This alteration was not a success in service, and was not repeated. These three destroyers were later converted to the normal Fletcher-class configuration.

Service

Nineteen were lost during World War II; six more were damaged, evaluated as constructive total losses, and not repaired. Postwar, the remainder were decommissioned and put into reserve.
With the outbreak of the Korean War many were returned to active duty. During this time 39 were refitted, reducing their overall main armament and the number of torpedo tubes to accommodate other weapons. A new ahead-throwing weapon called Weapon Alpha was installed in many of the ships. Others carried trainable Hedgehogs. Eighteen ships were redesignated as escort destroyers, optimized for anti-submarine warfare; these reverted to destroyer designation in 1962.

Other navies

Many of the ships were sold to other navies during the mid-1950s, including:
Any remaining were broken up in the 1970s. The last Fletcher in service, BAM Cuitlahuac, left the Mexican navy in 2001, meaning the total service life of the Fletchers stretched over almost six decades and into the 21st century.

Argentina

A total of five Fletchers were transferred to the Argentine Navy in two batches. The first batch of three ships was transferred in 1961 and the second in 1971. By the late 1970s, the ships were obsolete and they did not play a significant role in the Falklands War, being stricken that year for scrapping or use as a target ship.
PennantShip nameFormer nameAcquiredFate
D-20ARA Almirante BrownUSS Heermann14 August 1961Scrapped in 1982
D-21ARA EsporaUSS Dortch16 August 1961Scrapped in 1977
D-22ARA RosalesUSS Stembel7 August 1961Scrapped in 1982
D-23ARA Almirante Domecq GarciaUSS Braine17 August 1971Sunk as a target on 7 October 1983
D-24ARA Almirante StorniUSS Cowell17 August 1971Scrapped in 1982

Brazil

Mexico

Legacy

Four ships have been preserved as museum ships, although only Kidd retains her World War II configuration:
All three American museum ships have been designated as National Historic Landmarks.
In 2018, Kidd was used as the filming location for the fictional USS Keeling, from C.S. Forester's novel The Good Shepherd, in its appearance in the book's 2020 cinematic adaptation, Greyhound.

Ships in class