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fighting ships of the world

UNITED STATES NAVY (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)

TORPEDO SHIPS

FORREST SHERMAN destroyers (1955 - 1959)

John Paul Jones 1956

Forrest Sherman 1963

Somers 1968

Decatur 1979

Barry 1979

Forrest Sherman 1979

Barry 1981

No Name Yard No Builder Laid down Launched Comm Fate
DD931 Forrest Sherman 324 Bath Iron Wks 27.10.1953 5.2.1955 9.11.1955 stricken 7.1990
DD932, 3.1967- DDG32 John Paul Jones 325 Bath Iron Wks 18.1.1954 7.5.1955 5.4.1956 stricken 3.1986
DD933 Barry 326 Bath Iron Wks 15.3.1954 1.10.1955 31.8.1956 stricken 1.1983
DD936, 9.1966- DDG31 Decatur 1648 Bethlehem, Quincy 13.9.1954 15.12.1955 7.12.1956 stricken 3.1988
DD937 Davis 1649 Bethlehem, Quincy 1.2.1955 28.3.1956 28.2.1957 stricken 7.1990
DD938 Jonas Ingram 1650 Bethlehem, Quincy 15.6.1955 8.7.1956 19.7.1957 stricken 6.1983
DD940 Manley 327 Bath Iron Wks 10.2.1955 12.4.1956 1.2.1957 stricken 6.1990
DD941 Du Pont 328 Bath Iron Wks 11.5.1955 8.9.1956 1.7.1957 stricken 6.1990
DD942 Bigelow 329 Bath Iron Wks 6.7.1955 2.2.1957 8.11.1957 stricken 6.1990
DD943 Blandy 1651 Bethlehem, Quincy 29.12.1955 19.12.1956 26.11.1957 stricken 7.1990
DD944 Mullinix 1652 Bethlehem, Quincy 5.4.1956 18.3.1957 7.3.1958 stricken 7.1990
DD945 Hull 330 Bath Iron Wks 12.9.1956 10.8.1957 3.7.1958 stricken 11.1983
DD946 Edson 331 Bath Iron Wks 3.12.1956 4.1.1958 3.4.1959 stricken 1.1989
DD947, 3.1967- DDG34 Somers 332 Bath Iron Wks 4.3.1957 30.5.1958 9.4.1959 stricken 4.1988
DD948 Morton 1019 Ingalls, Pascagoula 4.3.1957 23.5.1958 26.5.1959 stricken 2.1990
DD949, 3.1967- DDG33 Parsons 1020 Ingalls, Pascagoula 17.6.1957 19.8.1958 29.10.1959 stricken 5.1984
DD950 Richard S. Edwards   Puget Sound N Yd, Bremerton 20.12.1956 24.9.1957 5.2.1959 stricken 2.1990
DD951 Turner Joy   Puget Sound N Yd, Bremerton 30.9.1957 5.5.1958 3.8.1959 stricken 2.1990

 

Displacement standard, t

2800

Displacement full, t

4916

Length, m

124.1 wl 127.6 oa

Breadth, m

13.7

Draught, m

4.60

No of shafts

2

Machinery

DD931, 932: 2 sets Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers

DD933, 938, 943 - 951: 2 sets General Electric geared steam turbines, 4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers

DD936, 937: 2 sets Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 4 Foster Wheeler boilers

DD940 - 942: 2 sets General Electric geared steam turbines, 4 4 Foster Wheeler boilers

Power, h. p.

70000

Max speed, kts

33

Fuel, t

oil 500

Endurance, nm(kts) 4500 (20)

Armament

DD931, 932: 3 x 1 - 127/54 Mk 42, 2 x 2 - 76/50 Mk 33, 4 - 533 TT, 2 x 3 - 324 Mk 32 TT, 2 x 24 - 178 Mk 15 Hedgehog ASWRL, 1 DCR

DD933, 936-938, 940-951: 3 x 1 - 127/54 Mk 42, 2 x 2 - 76/50 Mk 33, 2 x 3 - 324 Mk 32 TT, 2 x 24 - 178 Mk 15 Hedgehog ASWRL, 1 DCR

Electronic equipment

SPS-6, SPS-10, SPG-53A, Mk 35 radars, SQS-4 sonar, WLR-1, WLR-3, ULQ-6 ECM suites

Complement

324

 

Project history: These were the only postwar general-purpose gun-armed destroyers, intended originally as a mobilization version of the expensive Mitscher class (1950). However, when a Gibbs and Cox study showed that a simplification of the sophisticated construction of the earlier design would result in a 5000t ship, a new design was begun, concentrating more on anti-aircraft firepower than on ASW. In the end, even a trainable Hedgehog was given up, as it would have required extra length. It appears that the unusual gun arrangement, two aft and one forward, was adopted for dryness; in addition it was well suited for antiaircraft defence. Given the high rate of fire of the automatic Mk 42 gun mounting in these ships, their battery was more than equivalent to that of the earlier Gearing class, although this was not evident at the time.

    From DD 936 onwards the sheer line was raised 0.9m at the bow for additional dryness; the first ships (FY53 group) were too far along to be modified. ASW weapons were fixed Hedgehogs and four long torpedo tubes, as well as a dropping system (succeeded by the familiar Mk 32 triple tubes) for lightweight torpedoes. However, the Bureau of Ordnance abandoned long torpedoes for surface ships in about 1956, and only the first two units were completed as planned.

    By 1954 the state of destroyer and escort development was sufficiently confused to require special analysts, and a Committee of the Long Range Shipbuilding and Conversion Plan proposed the abandonment of general-purpose destroyer construction in favour of a combination of fast task force escorts (which became the Farragut), fast ASW escorts (a proposed 'corvette' conversion of the Bensons and austere ocean escorts (destroyer escorts such as the Dealeys). In fact Forrest Sherman class construction was soon terminated in favour of a missile-armed equivalent, the Charles F. Adams class, with eighteen general-purpose escorts completed.

Modernizations: 1966, Decatur; 1967, John Paul Jones: were converted to guide missile destroyers with armament consisted of 1 x 1 Tartar SAM (40 RIM-24), 1 x 8 ASROC ASuR (16 RUR-5), 1 x 1 - 127/54 Mk 42, 2 x 3 - 324 Mk 32 TT, SPS-29, SPS-40, SPS-48, SPS-10, SPG-51C, SPG-53B radars, SQS-23 sonar, WLR-1, WLR-3, ULQ-6 ECM suites

1967, Parsons: was converted to guide missile destroyer with armament consisted of 1 x 1 Tartar SAM (40 RIM-24), 1 x 8 ASROC ASuR (16 RUR-5), 1 x 1 - 127/54 Mk 42, 2 x 3 - 324 Mk 32 TT, SPS-29, SPS-48, SPS-10, SPG-51C, SPG-53B radars, SQS-23 sonar, WLR-1, WLR-3, ULQ-6 ECM suites

1967, Somers: was converted to guide missile destroyer with armament consisted of 1 x 1 Tartar SAM (40 RIM-24), 1 x 8 ASROC ASuR (16 RUR-5), 1 x 1 - 127/54 Mk 42, 2 x 3 - 324 Mk 32 TT, SPS-40, SPS-48, SPS-10, SPG-51C, SPG-53B radars, SQS-23 sonar, WLR-1, WLR-3, ULQ-6 ECM suites

1967-1971, Barry, Davis, Manley: were converted to ASW destroyers with armament consisted of 1 x 8 ASROC ASuR (20 RUR-5), 2 x 1 - 127/54 Mk 42, 2 x 3 - 324 Mk 32 TT, 2 x 24 - 178 Mk 15 Hedgehog ASWRL, 1 DCR, SPS-37, SPS-10, SPG-53A radars, SQS-23, SQS-35 sonars, WLR-1, WLR-3, ULQ-6 ECM suites

1967-1971, Jonas Ingram, Du Pont, Blandy, Morton, Richard S. Edwards: were converted to ASW destroyers with armament consisted of 1 x 8 ASROC ASuR (20 RUR-5), 2 x 1 - 127/54 Mk 42, 2 x 3 - 324 Mk 32 TT, 2 x 24 - 178 Mk 15 Hedgehog ASWRL, 1 DCR, SPS-40, SPS-10, SPG-53A radars, SQS-23, SQS-35 sonars, WLR-1, WLR-3, ULQ-6 ECM suites

1967-1971, Forrest Sherman, Hull: - 1 x 2 - 76/50, SPS-6 radar, SQS-4 sonar; + SPS-40 radar, SQS-23 sonar

1967-1971, Turner Joy: - 2 x 2 - 76/50, SPS-6 radar, SQS-4 sonar; + SPS-40 radar, SQS-23 sonar

1967-1971, Bigelow: - 2 x 2 - 76/50, SPS-6 radar, SQS-4 sonar; + SPS-37 radar, SQS-23 sonar

1967-1971, Edson: - 1 x 2 - 76/50, SPS-6 radar, SQS-4 sonar; + SPS-37 radar, SQS-23 sonar

1967-1971, Mullinix: - 1 x 2 - 76/50, SPS-6 radar, SQS-4 sonar; + SPS-12 radar, SQS-23 sonar

Naval service: No significant events.

Barry 1971

Turner Joy 1980

Parsons 1980

© Ivan Gogin, 2015