Porter Class Destroyer

Porter Class Destroyer

As Built:

  • 8 × 5 inch/38 caliber guns (4×2)
  • 2 × quad 1.1 inch/75 caliber guns
  • 8 × 21 inch torpedo tubes (2×4)

c. 1942:

  • 8 × 5 inch/38 caliber guns (4×2)
  • 1 × twin Bofors 40 mm gun
  • 6 × 20mm Oerlikon cannons
  • 2 × depth charge stern racks

The Porter-class destroyers were a class of eight 1,850-ton destroyers in the United States Navy.

The first four ships were laid down in 1933 by New York Shipbuilding and the next four in 1934 at Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts. All were commissioned in 1936 except the Winslow, which was commissioned in 1937.

They were built in response to the large destroyers that the Japanese Navy was building at the time, and were initially leaders of destroyer flotillas. They were originally built with eight Mk 12 5 inch/38 caliber (127 mm) guns in four Mark 22 Single Purpose (surface action only) twin mounts. This proved to be top heavy, and planes were becoming a greater threat, so during the war, mounts 51 and 54 were replaced with Dual Purpose (surface action and air action) twin mounts, and more smaller anti-aircraft guns were installed. In some ships, mount 52 was replaced by a quad 40 mm mount, and mount 53 became a single 5 in/38 (127/38 mm) Dual Purpose mount. Additional 40 mm guns were added amidships.

Read more about Porter Class Destroyer:  Design, Ships in Class

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