Mahan-class destroyer

The Mahan-class destroyers were a series of 18 destroyers of the United States Navy, the first 16 laid down in 1934 and the last two, Dunlap and Fanning, in 1935, and all commissioned in 1936 and 1937. The lead ship was named for the naval historian Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan. The ships had 12 torpedo tubes, superimposed gun shelters and emergency generators, and standard displacement rose from 1,365 to 1,500 tons. The class introduced a steam plant that raised pressure and temperature with a lightweight turbine, so efficient that it was used on many later wartime destroyers; the twin screws were driven by General Electric geared turbines and four oil-burning Babcock and Wilcox boilers. All 18 fought in the Pacific, six were lost in combat and two were expended in the Operation Crossroads tests, and none survive. Bath Iron Works in Maine built two of them, Drayton and Lamson.