Four
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
s in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
comprised the ''Cassin'' class. All served as convoy escorts during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The ''Cassin''s were the first of five "second-generation" 1000-ton four-stack destroyer classes that were front-line ships of the Navy until the 1930s. They were known as "thousand tonners" for their normal displacement, while the previous classes were nicknamed "flivvers" for their small size, after the
Model T Ford
The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. The relati ...
.
[
They were the first to carry the new /50 caliber guns. The number of ]torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s was increased from the six carried by the to eight. The additional armament significantly increased their tonnage to over 1,000 tons and decreased their speed to less than , despite an increase from to .[
The was built concurrently, and those four ships are often considered to be ''Cassin''s. Both classes were ordered in ]fiscal year
A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
1912.[
The class performed convoy escort missions in the ]Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
in World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Hulls 43–45 served in the United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
as part of the Rum Patrol in 1924–31. All were scrapped 1934–35 to comply with the London Naval Treaty
The London Naval Treaty, officially the Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament, was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, and the United States that was signed on 22 April 1930. Seeking to address is ...
.[Gardiner and Gray, pp. 122–125]
Design
The increase in normal displacement to over 1,000 tons was due to the desire to combine a heavy armament with a substantial cruising range. The US Navy at the time had only three modern scout cruisers of the , so the destroyers had to double as scouts.[Friedman, pp. 24–34, 458] The engineering arrangement of two-shaft direct drive turbines was similar to some previous ships, but the poor performance of early cruising turbines caused a reversion to reciprocating engines for cruising. Hulls 43 and 44 had a triple expansion engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...
that could be clutched to one shaft for cruising; the other pair of ships had a similar arrangement on both shafts.[
]
"Thousand tonner" development
The "thousand tonner" type included 26 destroyers in five classes: four ''Cassin''s, four ''Aylwin''s, six s, six s, and six s. The ships were commissioned 1913–17. As the type developed the gun armament of four 4 inch (102 mm) guns remained the same, torpedo armament greatly increased, and displacement rose by about 100 tons. The ''Cassin'' and ''Aylwin'' classes had eight 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s in twin broadside mounts, two mounts on each side. The ''O'Brien''s introduced the torpedo to the US destroyer force, but the number of tubes remained at eight. In the ''Sampson''s, torpedo armament was increased to twelve 21 inch (533 mm) tubes by replacing the twin mounts with triple mounts.[ The subsequent "flush deck" types retained the gun and torpedo armament of the ''Sampson''s on a new hull with displacement increased by about 100 tons, and with a new engineering plant. The thousand tonners also debuted US destroyer ]anti-aircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
armament: two 1-pounder (37 mm) autocannon
An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary shells, as opposed to the smaller-caliber kinetic projectiles (bull ...
s were specified for the ''Tucker''s but not fitted until the ''Sampson''s.[
In engineering, cruising turbines were re-introduced with the ''Tucker'' and ''Sampson'' classes. had prototype fully ]gear
A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...
ed turbines without cruising turbines; this arrangement was later adopted for the "flush deckers"; other flush deckers had geared turbines with varying cruising arrangements.[
]
Armament
The gun armament of four /50 caliber Mark 9 guns was a significant increase from the five guns of the ''Paulding'' class, and remained the standard US destroyer gun armament through the "flush deck" ''Clemson''-class destroyers commissioned through 1921. It reflected the increasing size of foreign destroyers that the ''Cassin''s might have to fight. The torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
armament of eight 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s was an increase of two tubes over the ''Paulding''s. A factor in the size of the torpedo armament was the General Board
The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, somewhat akin to a naval general staff and somewhat not. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by Secretary ...
's decision to use broadside rather than centerline torpedo tubes.[ This was due to the desire to have some torpedoes remaining after firing a broadside, and problems experienced with centerline mounts on previous classes with torpedoes striking the ]gunwale
The gunwale () is the top edge of the hull of a ship or boat.
Originally the structure was the "gun wale" on a sailing warship, a horizontal reinforcing band added at and above the level of a gun deck to offset the stresses created by firing ...
s of the firing ship.[
The class was probably equipped with one or two ]depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
racks each for anti-submarine
An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
convoy escort missions in World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.[Friedman, p. 68]
Engineering
Most references list the propulsion plant of ''Cassin'' and ''Cummings'' as standard for the class.[ However, the Navy's official ''Ships' Data Book'' for 1912 shows there was some variation.] ''Cassin'' and ''Cummings'' had four Normand boiler
Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...
s supplying steam to two direct-drive
A direct-drive mechanism is a mechanism design where the force or torque from a prime mover is transmitted directly to the effector device (such as the drive wheels of a vehicle) without involving any intermediate couplings such as a gear train or ...
Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
-type steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s driving two shafts for a total of . A small triple-expansion engine
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.
A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up h ...
could be clutched to one shaft for economical cruising at moderate speeds. Early steam turbines were inefficient at low speed, and this was only remedied with the rise in steam pressure and the introduction of gear
A gear is a rotating circular machine part having cut teeth or, in the case of a cogwheel or gearwheel, inserted teeth (called ''cogs''), which mesh with another (compatible) toothed part to transmit (convert) torque and speed. The basic pr ...
ed cruising turbines during World War I. ''Downes'' had Thornycroft boiler
Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, an ...
s and ''Duncan'' had Yarrow boilers. Both of these had Curtis steam turbines and triple-expansion cruising engines on both shafts.[
''Downes'' made on trials at . Normal fuel oil capacity was 312 tons.][
]
Ships in class
See also
*
References
*
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org - ''Cassin'' class destroyer
DestroyerHistory.org ''Cassin'' class destroyer
DestroyerHistory.org Thousand Tonner page
{{WWI US ships
Destroyer classes