Background
For the 1913 fiscal year, the General Board of the United States Navy determined that six destroyers would be authorized. The design for Destroyers No. 51 through No. 56—what became the O'Brien class, was to closely follow the design of the Cassin and Aylwin classes from fiscal year 1912. The chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) suggested that the new destroyers be equipped with ten torpedo tubes and urged that the new 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo be adopted. The General Board agreed in principle, adopting the 21-inch torpedo tubes, but eliminated BuOrd's proposed centerline torpedo tubes and keeping the number of tubes at eight, the same as the Cassin and Aylwin classes. The additional weight of the larger torpedoes, 5 long tons (5.1 t) of top weight, was offset by reducing the planned two aft-facing guns to a single one. This gave the class four 4-inch (102 mm) guns, which, again, matched the battery of the Cassin and Aylwin classes. The design for the O'Brien class was approved on 20 August 1912, and authorized by Congress on 4 March 1913.
Read more about this topic: O'Brien Class Destroyer
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