This class of 53 ships built between 1940 to 1944 were Atlantis' main contribution to the Allied cause. The half dozen battleships and aircraft carriers may have been beneficial, but it was the DDE's that escorted the materials of war from the US to UK that led to the eventual defeat of Germany. Used both as close convoy escorts and formed as hunter killer groups the Nike class ships were exactly what was required. Atlantis had been trialing all sorts of anti-submarine measures throughout the 1930's. One item was the ahead throwing spigot mortar known to the Allies as 'Hedgehog'. Hedgehog was fitted as standard to the Nike Class ships which started coming out of the builders yards in late 1940. The armament featured two twin 4" DP mountings and three twin 40mm auto-cannon AA weapons. The 40mm AA 'turret' required a handling room beneath the mounting which limited the places that it could be fitted to. Part of the automatic feature was the use of 'endless' belts of ammunition where a new belt of 40mm shells could be clipped/added to the end of the previous belt so that firing could continue almost indefinitely at a rapid rate. That was the theory but in practice the guns would fire bursts of 6-10 rounds then pause to allow the barrels to cool slightly before firing again.
