Design
The requirements of the new design were high speed and mass production. The development of submarine warfare during World War I created a requirement for destroyers in numbers that had not been contemplated before the war. A top speed of 35 knots (65 km/h) was needed for operation with the Lexington battlecruisers and Omaha cruisers.
The final design had a flush deck and four smokestacks. It was a fairly straightforward evolution of the preceding Caldwell class. General dissatisfaction with the earlier "1,000 ton" designs (Cassin and Tucker classes) led to the fuller hull form of the "flush deck" type. Greater beam and the flush deck provided greater hull strength. In addition, the Wickes class had 26,000 horsepower (19,000 kW) (5,000 more HP than the Caldwell class), providing an extra 5 knots (9.3 km/h).
The extra power required an extra 100 tons of engine and reduction gears. The design included an even keel and near horizontal propeller shafts to minimize weight.
Armament was the same as the Caldwell class: 4×4"/50 caliber guns and 12×21" torpedo tubes. While the gun armament was typical for destroyers of this period, the torpedo armament was larger than usual, in accordance with American practice at the time.
As construction was undertaken by ten different builders, there was considerable variation in the types of boilers and turbines installed to meet a guaranteed speed requirement. However, there were in essence two basic designs; one for the ships built by the Bethlehem Steel yards (including Union Iron Works) and another used by the remaining shipyards, which was prepared by Bath Iron Works.
The Wickes class proved to be short-ranged, and its bridge and gun positions were very wet. The Clemson class added 100 tons of fuel tankage to improve operational range, but the issue of range was solved only with the development of at-sea refueling.
Read more about this topic: Wickes Class Destroyer
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