These were magnificent destroyers, with a blend of speed and firepower only matched by the French Mogador, Italian Capitano Romano, German Breslau and Japanese Akitsuki class ships. The ships were again armed with the twin 5.1" guns and turrets with four turrets being fitted, two each fore and aft. A large number of 40mm and 20mm weapons were also fitted wherever possible. Two sets of quadruple torpedo tubes rounded out the armament. The steel shortage of 1942 and getting twin turrets for the ships did delay completion of some of the later units.
The ships were listed as destroyer leaders and were mated up with three of the Barquisimeto class each to give 4 ship flotillas. These four ship flotillas had more firepower than the 10-12 ship flotillas used in WW1. At times, due to inconsistencies in the US awareness of vessel types, these ships were listed as light cruisers. They were fast ships making nearly 40 knots on trials and had a listed maximum speed of 38 knots.
