Destroyers - USA: Books - History, Types and Construction

U.S. Destroyers - An illustrated design history (Revised Edition)

This is one the most comprehensive references available on the entire development of U.S. Destroyers, from their early torpedo boat forebears to the mass-produced Fletcher-class of World War II, through the Spruance and Perry classes of the Cold War, and to the workhorse Arleigh Burke-class of the contemporary Navy. Like the other books in Friedman's design-history series, U.S. Destroyers is based largely on formerly classified internal U.S. Navy records.

Friedman, a leading authority on U.S. warships, explains the political and technical rationales of warship construction and recounts the evolution of each design. Alan Raven and A.D. Baker III have created detailed scale outboard and plan views of each ship class and of major modifications to many classes. Numerous photographs complement the text.

The Norman Friedman Illustrated Design History series of U.S. warships books has been an industry standard for three decades and has sold thousands of copies worldwide. To mark and celebrate this achievement, the Naval Institute Press is proud to make these books available once more.
Digitally remastered for enhanced photo resolution and quality, corrected, and updated, this series will continue to serve - for scholars and enthusiasts alike - as the foundation for U.S. naval warship research and reference for years to come.

US Flush-Deck Destroyers 1916-45 : Caldwell, Wickes, and Clemson classes

Four pipes and flush decks - these ships were a distinctively American destroyer design. Devised immediately prior to and during the United States' involvement in World War I they dominated the US Navy's destroyer forces all the way through to World War II.
They were deployed on North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea convoys, and virtually everywhere in the Pacific, from Alaska to Australia.

Fifty were given to Great Britain in its hour of need in 1940, and many would serve in other navies, fighting under the Soviet, Canadian, Norwegian, and even the Imperial Japanese flags.
They also served in a variety of roles becoming seaplane tenders, high-speed transports, minesweepers and minelayers. One was even used as a self-propelled mine during Operation Chariot, destroying the dry dock at St. Nazaire.

Fully illustrated throughout with commissioned artwork and contemporary photographs, this volume reveals the operational history of these US Navy ships that fought with distinction in both World Wars.

US Destroyers 1934-45 - Pre-war Classes

Since the beginning of the 20th century, destroyers have been all-purpose ships, indispensable in roles large and small - from delivering the mail at sea to screening other vessels and, where larger ships were not present, forming the front line in battle.

This title details the 169 ships of ten US Navy classes introduced in the 1930s: early 1,500-tonners and 1,850-ton destroyer leaders designed to conform to the 1930 London Naval Treaty, plus the successor 1,570-ton Sims class and 1,620- and 1,630-ton Benson and Gleaves classes.
In wartime, most 1,500-tonners and leaders initially saw front line duty in the Pacific but were relegated to secondary assignments as newer vessels arrived; while the later 1,620- and 1,630-tonners became the standard destroyers of the Atlantic War.
This volume reveals the fascinating design story behind these pioneering classes - from the constraints of peacetime treaties to advances in propulsion engineering, and wartime modifications. With an operational overview of their service and tables listing all ships by class, builder, and initial squadron, this is the definitive guide to the pre-war US destroyer classes.

US Destroyers 1942-45 - Wartime Classes

Few if any 20th century warships were more justly acclaimed than the destroyers of the U.S. Navy's Fletcher class. Admired as they were for their advanced and rakish design, it was their record as workhorses of the Pacific War that placed them among the most battle-tested and successful fighting ships of all time.

This title describes the Fletchers and their Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class derivatives, their machinery, armament, and construction, with a listing of all 343 ships by hull number and builder. It features an operational history of the 287 ships commissioned during World War II, which traces the evolution of night surface action tactics in the Solomon Islands and the parallel development of the Combat Information Center; the drive across the Pacific and liberation of the Philippines with tables showing the rapid introduction of new squadrons; and the radar pickets' climactic stand against kamikaze aircraft at Okinawa.
With summaries of losses and decorations and specially commissioned artwork, this is a definitive book on the wartime US destroyer classes.

Contents: Introduction - Design and development - Service modifications and conversions - Operational histories - Conclusion.

USS Kidd (DD-661): From WWII and Korea to Museum Ship

USS Kidd (DD-661) is the only Fletcher-class destroyer preserved in WWII configuration. With 175 total ships launched, the Fletchers were the most numerous and most impactful class of destroyers in the US Navy during the Second World War.
DD-661 was named for RAdm. Isaac C. Kidd, who was killed onboard the Battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor. USS Kidd saw action in both the Atlantic and in the Pacific. In April 1945, the ship was seriously damaged by a Kamikaze strike. Kidd was recommissioned during the Korean War, and finally decommissioned for the final time in 1964.

The interior and exterior of the ship have been painstakingly restored and preserved in Baton Rouge by the Louisiana Naval War Memorial Commission. This work uses color photography to provide readers an illustrated tour of the ship, above and below deck.