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fighting ships of the world

UNITED STATES NAVY (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

TORPEDO SHIPS

CALDWELL destroyers (1917-1920)

Stockton 1917

No Name Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comm Fate
DD69 Caldwell   Mare Island N Yd, Vallejo 12.1916 10.7.1917 12.1917 stricken 1.1936
DD70 Craven, 11.1939- Conway   Norfolk N Yd, Portsmouth 11.1917 29.6.1918 10.1918 to United Kingdom 10.1940 (Lewes)
DD71 Gwin 87 Todd, Tacoma 6.1917 22.12.1917 3.1920 stricken 1.1937
DD72 Conner 436 Cramp, Philadelphia 10.1916 21.8.1917 1.1918 to United Kingdom 10.1940 (Leeds)
DD73 Stockton 437 Cramp, Philadelphia 10.1916 17.7.1917 11.1917 to United Kingdom 10.1940 (Ludlow)
DD74, 11.1938- AG28, 8.1940- APD1, 6.1945- DD74 Manley 70 Bath Iron Wks 8.1916 23.8.1917 10.1917 auxiliary 11.1938, fast amphibious transport 8.1940, destroyer 6.1945, stricken 12.1945
  
Data variant as commissioned

Displacement standard, t

1120

Displacement full, t

1187

Length, m

94.5 wl 96.2 oa

Breadth, m

9.30

Draught, m

2.70

No of shafts

DD69 - 71, 74: 2

DD72, 73: 3

Machinery

DD69: 2 sets Curtis geared steam turbines, 4 Thornycroft boilers

DD70, 71: 2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 4 Thornycroft boilers

DD72, 73: 3 Curtis steam turbines / 1 geared steam turbine for cruising, 4 Yarrow boilers

DD74: 2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 4 Normand boilers

Power, h. p.

18500

Max speed, kts

30

Fuel, t

oil 310

Endurance, nm(kts) 2500(20)

Armament

DD69, 72 - 74: 4 x 1 - 102/50 Mk IX, 2 x 1 - 37/43 Mk VI/VII, 4 x 3 - 533 TT, 2 DCR

DD70, 71: 4 x 1 - 102/50 Mk IX, 2 x 1 - 37/43 Mk VI/VII, 4 x 3 - 533 TT, 1 DCT, 2 DCR

Complement

100

Project history: The first of the famous 'flush deckers', these ships were intermediate between the 'thousand tonners' and the mass-production destroyers of World War One. Their characteristics essentially duplicated those of the earlier ships, but C&R proposed a new flush-deck hull form, to reduce rolling and pitching. Beam and midship cross-section both increased slightly, and draft had to be reduced in compensation. That in turn would have reduced hull depth (hence strength) in a conventional broken-forecastle hull; C&R solved the problem by increasing freeboard amidships, so that hull scantlings (hence weight) could beheld down. The designers hoped that dryness could be preserved, since the bow freeboard of earlier ships was retained. In practice, however, the flush-deckers were far wetter than their predecessors. Shallow draft also meant that the propellers would not be deep enough, and the ships had to be designed with a drag, ie with a keel sloping aft.

    Steam Engineering proposed a new triple-screw power-plant, the centre shaft being driven by the high-pressure turbine, with a geared cruising turbine clutched to it. The sketch design also showed three rather than four funnels, the two inner ones being trunked together. In practice, however, only the two Cramp ships followed the original design. The other four had twin screws (with Curtis geared turbines in DD 69, Parsons geared turbines in the others). Only the two Cramp ships and the Gwin had triple funnels. Unlike the mass-production 'flush-deckers', these ships had cutaway (vice cruiser) sterns.

Modernizations: 1918, all: - 2 x 1 - 37/43; + 2 x 1 - 76/23 Mk XIV

1918, Caldwell, Conner, Stockton, Manley: + 1 DCT

1930s, all survived: - 1 x 1 - 76/23; + 2 x 1 - 12.7/90

(11/1938-2/1939, New York N Yd), Manley was converted to fast transport with data as given in the table.

Data variant APD conversion

Displacement standard, t

1315

Displacement full, t

1793

Length, m

96.2

Breadth, m

9.30

Draught, m

3.76

No of shafts

2

Machinery

2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 2 Normand boilers

Power, h. p.

13000

Max speed, kts

22 - 24

Fuel, t

oil 429

Endurance, nm(kts)  

Armament

3 x 1 - 102/50 Mk 9, 4 x 1 - 12.7/90, 4 DCT, 2 DCR

Military load 4 LCP(L) or LCP(R), 120 troops
Electronic equipment QCJ sonar

Complement

101

 

1942 - mid-1944, Manley: - 4 x 1 - 102/50, 4 x 1 - 12.7/90; + 3 x 1 - 76/50 Mk 20, 1 x 2 - 40/56 Mk 1.2, 5 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 4, presumably SA, SE radars

Naval service: Single ship formally participated in WWI operations, was Conner, based at Brest in June, 1918.

Caldwell 1918

© Ivan Gogin, 2014