Fletcher-class destroyer

The Fletcher class was the main wartime destroyer design of the United States Navy in the Second World War. It was drawn up in 1939 after dissatisfaction with the earlier Porter and Somers destroyer leaders, and the Navy commissioned 175 of them between 1942 and 1944, more than any other destroyer class. A Fletcher was designed for 38 knots and carried five 5-inch guns in single mounts with ten 21-inch torpedo tubes in two quintuple mounts. The ships served almost entirely in the Pacific, where they accounted for 29 Japanese submarines, and the design was the parent of the Allen M. Sumner and Gearing classes. Many were later transferred to other navies, and four survive as museum ships. Bath Iron Works in Maine built 31 of the class.