More than solely an antisubmarine warfare platform, the U.S. Navy’s destroyer has shown its versatility during the past century.

By Gina DiNicolo

Fast, powerful, and sleek in design, the destroyer was a new type of ship for the Navy. It was patterned after fast and lethal torpedo craft of the late 19th century. These first torpedo boat destroyers were made to be smaller and faster than other U.S. ships and were to act as scouts and a screening force for the fleet, which was moving toward dominance of the high seas.

The United States launched its first destroyer, the USS Bainbridge (DD-1), Feb. 12, 1903. It was small by today’s standards, measuring just 250 feet in length and displacing 420 tons. It had a crew of four officers and 69 enlisted men and was armed with two 3-inch guns, five 6-pounders, and two 18-inch torpedo tubes.

As the United States entered World War I, the newest destroyers surpassed the 1,000-ton mark and carried more armament, increasing to eight and later 12 torpedo tubes and doubling the number and enlarging the size of the guns. Design speed increased to 35 knots. The crew grew to 100 officers and enlisted men. Trying to keep up with the Navy’s desperate needs, U.S. shipyards churned out more than 200 Wickes- and Clemson-class destroyers in less than two years.

Before entering the war, U.S. merchant shipping had fallen prey to German U-boats. The destroyer was tasked with providing protection for the merchants and troop transports. As a result, cargo losses to U-boat attacks decreased from nearly 1 million tons in April 1917 to 300,000 tons by November that year.

By the end of the war, the United States had the largest destroyer fleet in the world, but the Disarmament Treaty of 1922 forced the Navy to decommission or scrap more than 200 of these vessels. But the experience gained from nearly 250 encounters with the U-boat laid the groundwork for future tactical and strategic advances, especially in the area of antisubmarine warfare.

Destroyer production began again in the early 1930s. The Farragut, Mahan, and Gridley classes dominated with design speeds surpassing 35 knots. They carried considerably more fuel than earlier classes, increasing their range from 2,500 during World War I to nearly 6,000 nautical miles. They measured 341 feet and called for a crew of 158 officers and enlisted men. And they had something their World War I predecessors did not — sonar.

It was a U.S. destroyer that had the first deadly encounter with the Japanese on Dec. 7, 1941. That morning, the USS Ward (DD-139) was completing a patrol near Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when its crew detected a Japanese submarine trying to enter the harbor. The Ward sunk the sub more than an hour before the Japanese attack. Of the roughly 100 ships at Pearl Harbor that morning, 30 were destroyers. All successfully fought their way out of the harbor during the attack.
 
The Navy could not get enough of the destroyer, and production reached an all-time high during World War II. The two primary classes were the Fletcher-class destroyer, with 175 ships, and the Gearing class, with 97 commissioned during and shortly after the war. The Fletcher’s 492 tons of oil gave it a range of 6,500 nautical miles at 15 knots. The Gearings measured 391 feet with a crew of 11 officers and 325 enlisted men.

During the war, the “greyhound of the seas” became a workhorse, fulfilling a range of missions. Destroyers patrolled; they screened; they shelled. The Navy continued to update and add armament, especially guns necessary to defeat the threat from the air. The Navy’s hunger for the destroyer-type ship brought about the smaller destroyer escorts, designated DE, to handle escort and antisubmarine warfare duties.

Of the roughly 80 destroyers lost to enemy action, more than 60 were lost in the Pacific Theater, and nearly one-third of those were lost to kamikaze attacks.

Over the next three decades, the Navy continued to advance destroyer design and enhance its capabilities. Guided missiles entered the U.S. arsenal and were placed on board ships. The Charles F. Adams class was the first new class of guided missile destroyers, with the first of its class being commissioned Sept. 10, 1960.

Following World War II, having continued to expand their technical capabilities, destroyers were stationed off the coast of Vietnam and provided crucial naval gunfire support to troops inland. The USS Maddox (DD-731) first came under attack in the Tonkin Gulf. Another destroyer, the USS Turner Joy (DD-951), came to the Maddox’s aid. It also is reported the Turner Joy fired the last shots in Vietnam.

Outside of Vietnam, destroyers were used as the primary antisubmarine warfare ship of the carrier battle group. As destroyers tracked Soviet submarines in waters around the world, strategic deterrence was all the Cold War rage for destroyers and U.S. battle groups, in general, until the collapse of the Soviet Union.

As the guided missile destroyer became the fleet’s multi-mission platform, the Navy again wanted a destroyer with an antisubmarine warfare mission — one that could escort a carrier battle group. In 1975, the Navy commissioned the USS Spruance (DD-963), a revolution in ship design with its gas-turbine propulsion, all-digital weapons systems, and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Probably one of the most innovative warships of the past century, the Spruance class is entering its fourth decade of service.

Following the Spruance, the Navy’s most advanced guided missile destroyer, the USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), was commissioned July 4, 1991. It was the first of the Aegis-class destroyers.

The destroyer’s second century of service dawned with a new set of challenges. Destroyers must be as versatile as ever to meet the Navy’s evolving needs. Whatever the outcome, this platform of power with its spirit of perseverance will remain an important weapon in the Navy’s arsenal.