The ''Wickes''-class destroyers were a class of 111
destroyers built by 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 ...
in 1917–19. Along with the 6 preceding and 156 subsequent s, they formed the "
flush-deck
Flush deck is a term in naval architecture. It can refer to any deck of a ship which is continuous from stem to stern.
History
The flush deck design originated with rice ships built in Bengal Subah, Mughal India (modern Bangladesh), resulting ...
" or "four-stack" type. Only a few were completed in time to serve 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 ...
, including , the lead ship of the class.
While some were scrapped in the 1930s, the rest served through
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Most of these were converted to other uses; nearly all in U.S. service had half their boilers and one or more stacks removed to increase fuel and range or accommodate troops.
Others were transferred to the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
and the
Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...
, some of which were later transferred to the
Soviet Navy. All were scrapped within a few years after World War II.
Background
The destroyer type was at this time a relatively new class of fighting ship for the U.S. Navy. The type arose in response to torpedo boats that had been developing from 1865, especially after the development of the self-propelled
Whitehead torpedo
The Whitehead torpedo was the first self-propelled or "locomotive" torpedo ever developed. It was perfected in 1866 by Robert Whitehead from a rough design conceived by Giovanni Luppis of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Fiume. It was driven by a t ...
. During the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
, it was realized that a torpedo boat destroyer was urgently needed to screen the larger warships, so much so that a special war plans board headed by
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
issued an urgent report pleading for this type of ship.
A series of destroyers had been built over the preceding years, designed for high smooth water speed, with indifferent results, especially poor performance in heavy seas and poor fuel economy. The lesson of these early destroyers was the appreciation of the need for true seakeeping and seagoing abilities. There were few
cruisers in the Navy, which was a fleet of
battleships and destroyers (no cruisers had been launched since 1908) so destroyers performed scouting missions. A report of October 1915 by
Captain W. S. Sims noted that the smaller destroyers used fuel far too quickly, and that war games showed the need for fast vessels with a larger radius of action. As a result, the size of U.S. destroyer classes increased steadily, starting at 450 tons and rising to over 1,000 tons between 1905 and 1916. The increase in destroyer size has never stopped, with some US s now up to 10,800 tons full load, and the s at 14,564 tons full load. The need for high speed, economical cruising, heavy seas performance, and a high fuel capacity saw larger hulls, the inclusion of oil fuel, reduction
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 ...
ed
steam turbines with cruising turbines, and increased fuel capacity.
With World War I then in its second year and tensions between the U.S. and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
increasing, the U.S. needed to expand its navy. The
Naval Appropriation Act of 1916 called for a navy "second to none," capable of protecting both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The Act authorized 10 battleships, 6 s, 10
scout cruiser
A scout cruiser was a type of warship of the early 20th century, which were smaller, faster, more lightly armed and armoured than protected cruisers or light cruisers, but larger than contemporary destroyers. Intended for fleet scouting duties a ...
s, and 50 ''Wickes''-class destroyers. A subsequent
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 ...
recommendation for further destroyers to combat the submarine threat resulted in a total of 267 ''Wickes''- and ''Clemson''-class destroyers completed. However, the design of the ships remained optimized for operation with the battleship fleet.
[Friedman, p.40]
Design
The requirements of the new design were high speed and mass production. The development of
submarine warfare during World War I created a requirement for destroyers in numbers that had not been contemplated before the war. A top speed of was needed for operation with the
''Lexington'' battlecruisers and
''Omaha'' cruisers.
The final design had a
flush deck
Flush deck is a term in naval architecture. It can refer to any deck of a ship which is continuous from stem to stern.
History
The flush deck design originated with rice ships built in Bengal Subah, Mughal India (modern Bangladesh), resulting ...
and four smokestacks. It was a fairly straightforward evolution of the preceding
''Caldwell'' class. General dissatisfaction with the earlier "1,000 ton" designs (''
Cassin'' and ''
Tucker
Tucker may refer to:
Places United States
* Tucker, Arkansas
* Tucker, Georgia
* Tucker, Mississippi
* Tucker, Missouri
* Tucker, Utah, ghost town
* Tucker County, West Virginia
Outer space
* Tucker (crater), a small lunar impact crater in the s ...
'' classes) led to the fuller hull form of the "flush deck" type. Greater beam and the flush deck provided greater hull strength. In addition, the ''Wickes'' class had , more than the ''Caldwell'' class, providing an extra . The machinery arrangement of some of the ''Caldwell''s was used, with geared
steam turbines on two shafts.
The extra power required an extra 100 tons of engine and reduction gears. The design included an even keel and nearly horizontal propeller shafts to minimize weight.
As construction was undertaken by ten different builders, there was considerable variation in the types of boilers and turbines installed to meet a guaranteed speed requirement. However, there were in essence two basic designs; one for the ships built by the
Bethlehem Steel
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succe ...
yards (including
Union Iron Works
Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries ...
) and another used by the remaining shipyards, which was prepared by
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics. It is the fifth-largest ...
.
The ''Wickes'' class proved to be short-ranged, and its bridge and gun positions were very wet. The fleet found that the tapered stern, which made for a nice depth charge deployment feature, dug into the water and increased the turning radius, thus hampering
anti-submarine work. The ''Clemson'' class added 100 tons of fuel tankage to improve operational range, but the issue of range was solved only with the development of
underway replenishment
Replenishment at sea (RAS) ( North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Commonwealth of Nations) or underway replenishment (UNREP) ( U.S. Navy) is a method of transferring fuel, munitions, and stores from one ship to another while under way. First devel ...
in World War II.
Armament
The main armament was the same as the ''Caldwell'' class: four
/50 caliber guns and twelve
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. While the gun armament was typical for destroyers of this period, the torpedo armament was larger than usual, in accordance with American practice at the time. 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 firin ...
s of the firing ship. The
Mark 8 torpedo was initially equipped, and probably remained the standard torpedo for this class, as 600 Mark 8 torpedoes were issued to the British in 1940 as part of the
Destroyers for Bases Agreement
The destroyers-for-bases deal was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, according to which 50 , , and US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for land rights ...
.
Most ships carried a
/23 caliber anti-aircraft (AA) gun, typically just aft of the stern 4-inch gun. The original design called for two
1-pounder AA guns, but these were in short supply and the 3-inch gun was more effective.
Anti-submarine (ASW) armament was added during World War I. Typically, a single
depth charge track was provided aft, along with a
Y-gun
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 hydraulic shock. Most depth charges use ...
depth charge projector forward of the aft deckhouse.
Production
![Camden Shipyard 1919](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Camden_Shipyard_1919.jpg)
The
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
authorized 50 destroyers in the 1916 Act. However, the realization of the scope of the U-boat campaign resulted in 111 being built. The ships were built at
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics. It is the fifth-largest ...
,
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For most of the 20th century, it was one of the world's largest steel producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its succ ...
's
Fore River Shipbuilding Company,
Union Iron Works
Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries ...
,
Mare Island Navy Yard
The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates t ...
,
Newport News Shipbuilding,
New York Shipbuilding
The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...
, and
William Cramp & Sons
William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company (also known as William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company) of Philadelphia was founded in 1830 by William Cramp, and was the preeminent U.S. iron shipbuilder of the late 19th century.
Company hi ...
. 267 ''Wickes'' and ''Clemson''-class destroyers were built. This program was considered a major industrial achievement.
Production of these destroyers was considered so important that work on cruisers and battleships was delayed to allow completion of the program. The first ''Wickes''-class vessel was launched on 11 November 1917, with four more by the end of the year. Production peaked in July 1918, when 17 were launched - 15 of them on 4 July.
The program continued after the war ended: 21 of the ''Wickes'' class (and all but 9 of the ''Clemson'' class) were launched after the
armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
on 11 November 1918. The last of the ''Wickes'' class was launched on 24 July 1919.
This program left the U.S. Navy with so many destroyers that no new destroyers were built until 1932 (the ).
Ships in class
111 ''Wickes''-class destroyers were built.
Sub-classes
Some of these ships are also referred to as ''Little'' class (52 ships), ''Lamberton'' class (11 ships), or ''Tattnall'' class (10 ships) to signify the yard that built them and to note the slight design differences from the Bath Iron Works ships. Some of these non-Bath Iron Works units were actually commissioned prior to the lead ship, ''Wickes''.
Operations
In U.S. service
A few ''Wickes'' class were completed in time for service in World War I, some with the battle fleet, some on
convoy escort duty; none were lost. ran aground in 1921; sank after a collision in 1921.
Many ''Wickes''-class destroyers were converted to other uses, starting as early as 1920, when 14 were converted to light
minelayer
A minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing control ...
s (
hull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ind ...
DM). Six of these were scrapped in 1932, and replaced by five additional conversions. Another four were converted to auxiliaries or transports at that time. Four ''Wickes''-class DM conversions and four ''Clemson''-class DM conversions survived to serve in World War II.
During the 1930s, 23 more were scrapped, sold off, or sunk as targets. This was mostly due to a blanket replacement of 61 Yarrow-boilered destroyers 1930-31, as these boilers wore out quickly in service. Flush-deckers in reserve were commissioned as replacements.
Starting in 1940, many of the remaining ships were also converted. Sixteen were converted to
high-speed transport
High-speed transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used in US Navy amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer. In 1969, the ...
s with the designation APD. Eight were converted to destroyer
minesweepers
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
(DMS). Most ships remaining in service during World War II were rearmed with dual-purpose
/50 caliber guns for better anti-aircraft protection. The AVD
seaplane tender conversions received 2 guns; the APD transport, DM minelayer, and DMS minesweeper conversions received 3 guns, and those retaining destroyer classification received 6.
Also, half of the torpedo tubes were removed in those retained as destroyers; all torpedoes were removed from the others. Nearly all had half the boilers removed, for increased fuel and range or to accommodate troops, reducing their speed to .
The low-angle Mark 9 4-inch guns removed from these ships were transferred to
defensively equipped merchant ships
Defensively equipped merchant ship (DEMS) was an Admiralty Trade Division programme established in June 1939, to arm 5,500 British merchant ships with an adequate defence against enemy submarines and aircraft. The acronym DEMS was used to descri ...
for anti-submarine protection.
had an eventful career. She was built in record time: her
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
was laid on 15 May 1918, launched only 17 days later on 1 June 1918, and commissioned 54 days after that on 24 July 1918. She is credited with firing the first US shots of the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...
on 7 December 1941, sinking a
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
midget submarine
A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...
with gunfire before the air attack started. The sinking was uncertain until the submarine's wreck was discovered in 2002. As the
high-speed transport
High-speed transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used in US Navy amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer. In 1969, the ...
APD-16, she was damaged beyond repair by a ''
kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending t ...
'' attack on 7 December 1944, and was sunk after abandoning ship by gunfire from the destroyer , commanded at the time by ''Ward''s former CO from the Pearl Harbor attack.
DANFS entry for USS ''Ward'' (DD-139)
/ref>
Thirteen ''Wickes'' class were lost during World War II in U.S. service. The remainder were scrapped between 1945 and 1947.
In foreign navies
Twenty-three ''Wickes''-class destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
, and four to the Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...
, in 1940 under the Destroyers-for-bases deal
The destroyers-for-bases deal was an agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom on September 2, 1940, according to which 50 , , and US Navy destroyers were transferred to the Royal Navy from the US Navy in exchange for land rights ...
. Most of these ships were refitted much like the U.S. destroyers and used as convoy escorts, but some were used very little and were not considered worth refitting. , renamed , was disguised as a German vessel and expended as a blockship in the St Nazaire Raid. (A newer that was involved in the Japanese surrender formalities was a later ship.) One further destroyer was sunk; the remainder were scrapped between 1944 and 1947.
In 1944 seven were transferred by Britain to the Soviet Navy, in place of Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
ships claimed by the USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
after Italy's surrender. These vessels all survived the war, and were scrapped between 1949 and 1952.
See also
*List of United States Navy losses in World War II
List of United States Navy and Coast Guard ships lost during World War II, from 31 October 1941 to 31 December 1946, sorted by type and name. This listing also includes constructive losses, which are ships that were damaged beyond economical re ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
* Gardiner, Robert, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921'', London: Conway Maritime Press, 1985. .
* Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946'', London: Conway Maritime Press, 1980. .
*
*
*
External links
''Wickes''-class destroyers
a
Destroyer History Foundation
DestroyerHistory.org Flush Decker page
*
{{WWII US ships
Destroyer classes