The chances of what I describe for this class to happen in the USN is practically zero. I did the drawings because the idea of one class having different layouts and armaments, because of supply shortages, was interesting to me. It did actually happen in real life, where the RN had a short supply of twin 4.7" for its L class destroyers and armed four of the class with four twin 4" instead of the three twin 4.7". (See L and M Class Destroyers)
The 90 Gleaves class were to provide destroyers to replace the Four pipers as they were retired or lost. It was pinpointed that the older Battleships, and cruisers did not need the big new destroyers of the Benson/Gearing types to escort them. A reduced size ship of about 1750-1800 ton with lesser speed and more 'escort' features could be used for the fast Fleet Train convoys as well. It had been noted that the early 20 knot escort destroyers had been of little use for the Fleet Train and those ships were sent off to general 'slow' convoy duties.
Above is the basic four single 5" model. This was to be the layout for all of the class but supply circumstances changed regularly and the mixed armaments were instituted to get the ships to sea, only 22 of this version made it to sea. The most common outfit was the one twin forward and two singles aft,. Having the twin forward allowed space in the 'B' mounting slot for a Hedgehog mounting to be fitted. 52 of this version were completed
The only other combination was two twin 5" mounted in 'A' and 'X' positions. While this was actually the best configuration, this was not how the ships were supposed to be armed, and only 16 of that version were completed.. This also went for the light AA armaments, anything from single 20mm to twin or quad 40mm could be fitted in differing quantities.
At least one of each version had been completed by the end of 1942, so the steel shortage of 1943, with the differing armaments, now made sense, as the supply of single and twin 5" could not keep up.
The original layout ships lost 'B' mount so that the Hedgehog ASW mortar could be fitted. The Hedgehog made a great difference in the ability of escorts to sink submarines. It was definitely worth the loss of a 5". The other advantage this gave was in the eternal fight against topweight. The Hedgehog mounting was much lighter than the 5" and allowed more advanced electronics to be fitted to masts and director.
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