US Destroyers 1942-45: Wartime classes (New Vanguard)
Language: English
Pages: 48
ISBN: 1846034442
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Few if any 20th century warships were more justly acclaimed than the destroyers of the US Navy's Fletcher class. Admired as they were for their advanced and rakish design, it was their record as workhorses of the Pacific War that placed them among the most battle-tested and successful fighting ships of all time. This title describes the Fletchers and their Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class derivatives, their machinery, armament, and construction, with a listing of all 343 ships by hull number and builder. It features an operational history of the 287 ships commissioned during World War II, which traces the evolution of night surface action tactics in the Solomon Islands and the parallel development of the Combat Information Center; the drive across the Pacific and liberation of the Philippines with tables showing the rapid introduction of new squadrons; and the radar pickets' climactic stand against kamikaze aircraft at Okinawa. With summaries of losses and decorations and specially commissioned artwork, this is a definitive book on the wartime US destroyer classes.
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contested every inch of ground. While bloody fighting continued until November, Admiral Spruance occupied the anchorage at Ulithi on September 23, completing his approach to the Philippines. In a change of command, his Fifth Fleet became Admiral Halsey’s Third Fleet. The Atlantic Not all Fletcher and Sumner operations took place in the Pacific. In the fall of 1943, Capps operated with the British Home Fleet from its base at Scapa Flow, screening the American carrier Ranger in an air strike on
Division Ships DesDiv 113 Rowe,S Smalley, Stoddard, Watts, Wren DesDiv 114 Bearss,D Jarvis, John Hood, Porter DesDiv 115 Colhoun, Gregory, Little, Rooks, Van ValkenburghS DesDiv 116 S Squadron flagship D Hart, Metcalf, Shields, Wiley 1 Division flagship Initially deployed to the Aleutian Islands 2 Never fully formed 35 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com NVG165correx9.qxd:Layout 1 Unsung destroyer tenders were a vital part of the logistics chain. Here, six Sumners of
San Francisco 8 Bethlehem San Pedro 9 Gulf, Chickasaw AL 10 Seattle-Tacoma 11 Consolidated, Orange TX The Allen M. Sumner Class The first Fletchers were still under construction when the General Board convened a new cycle of hearings in October 1941. These spawned a revised design in which three 5-inch/38 twin mounts replaced the Fletchers’ five singles. Four guns could fire on forward bearings; all six at long range, with the after mount firing over the mast. To accommodate them, designers
Vane Scott, USS Radford National Naval Museum, Newcomerstown, Ohio) NVG165correx9.qxd:Layout 1 23/12/09 12:21 Page 20 Fletcher-class destroyer squadrons formed in March 19431 Squadron 2 DesRon 21 DesRon 223 F Division Ships DesDiv 41 Chevalier, Nicholas,F O’Bannon, Strong, Taylor DesDiv 42 Fletcher,D Jenkins, La Vallette, Radford DesDiv 43 Philip, Pringle, Renshaw, Saufley, WallerF DesDiv 44 Conway,D Cony, Eaton, Sigourney D Squadron flagship Division flagship 1 De Haven was
the forward bank of torpedo tubes was replaced by a pair of 40mm quads, were the five destroyers of Division 99. Here, DesRon 50 flagship Clarence K. Bronson appears in camouflage Measure 22. Like many destroyers late in the Pacific war, she carries her hull numbers high on the bow. 20 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com 23/12/09 12:21 Page 21 2 1 NVG165correx9.qxd:Layout 1 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com NVG165correx9.qxd:Layout 1 Torpedo cranes were used often
