List of Destroyer Classes of The United States Navy - Between The World Wars

Between The World Wars

After the end of World War I, there was little need for the destroyers built, so many were laid up, and fourteen had their torpedo tubes removed and were converted to minesweepers. On September 8, 1923, seven of the ships ran aground off the coast of California—the U.S. Navy's worst ever peacetime disaster.

In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty, was signed by the United States, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, France, and Italy. The treaty called for a freeze in size and composition of the world's major navies, including the U.S. Navy, which ceased production of large capital ships. The London Naval Treaty, a 1930 agreement between the same parties, established total destroyer tonnage limits for the navies. The treaty also defined two categories: destroyer and destroyer leader; along with the maximum tonnage of each category, and the allowable ratio of one category to another.

In the London Naval Treaty, destroyers were established as "surface vessels of war the Standard Displacement (S.D.) of which does not exceed 1,850 tons and with a gun not above 5.1 inch caliber", as published in Ship’s Data for U.S. Naval Vessels. The “total completed tonnage not to be exceeded on December 31, 1936” was 150,000 S.D., but “not more than 16% of the allowed tonnage... shall be employed in vessels over 1,500 tons S.D.”. The new, higher limits rendered the existing flush-deckers obsolete, and the General Board soon moved to replace them. Since Japan was considered a probable adversary, the General Board replaced the four stackers with ships that could carry large quantities of fuel, ammunition, and supplies as needed to conduct operations across the vast Pacific Ocean.

The U.S. Navy resumed destroyer construction in 1932 with the Farragut class. For the next seven years, the United States Navy constructed "1500 tonners", or "goldplaters". The goldplaters earned this name because of the "over–lavish facilities", which drew comment from seasoned destroyermen. The armament of the Farragut and Mahan class destroyers initially included five 5 inch guns, a number later reduced to four due to stability problems. The 1500 ton Mahan, Dunlap, Gridley, Bagley, and Benham classes, the 1570 ton Sims class, and the Porter and Somers class destroyer leaders were all laid down in quick succession following the original goldplaters.

The Gleaves and Benson classes were similar in design to the Sims class, but had two stacks and a "split" powerplant for extra endurance against torpedo attacks.