The United States Navy was looking for a destroyer design that could become standardised in its building schedules during the coming war. The first ten were under construction when war broke out in Europe. Another twelve with further minor improvements were ordered in early 1940. Another order was placed in early 1941 for a further thirty, then on the outbreak of war in December 1941 a further forty were ordered, More orders were placed at regular intervals until the class would number over two hundred and twenty five, The largest single class of destroyer. (The four pipers had more but were split over several classes)
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Benham 227, Gleaves 90, Gearing 156. During WW2, the US Navy produced 473 destroyers. Absolutely staggering. Add the escort destroyers and frigates, and it is obvious once the US production lines got into gear there was only going to be one result to WW2.
The early ships (as shown above) had the 28mm 'Chicago pianos' that was replaced with a twin 40mm once the jamming problem made the 28mm guns unacceptable for further service.
The last set of elevation drawings show the late model 'Fletcher Group' with the full AA armament and Radar outfit. As more armaments and electronic outfits were added to the ships, crew accommodation became tight. This limited their usefulness post-war and why so many were converted to other duties or sold. Very few were kept in the USN as fleet destroyers.
These ships proved popular post-war with many countries purchasing or being given some as the start of their rebuilt fleets. The last one was not deleted till 1980, serving for five decades. Which is why so much 5"/38 ammunition was kept, there were still so many ships in service around the world that used it. Many of the class were converted to other duties such as Radar pickets that were used extensively in South East Asia.
