Wickes class destroyer
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USS Wickes DD-75
Class overview
Name:	Wickes class destroyer
Builders:	Various
Operators:	United States United Kingdom
Preceded by:	Caldwell class destroyer
Succeeded by:	Clemson class destroyer
Built:	1917 - 1921
In commission:	1918 - 1946 (USN)
Completed:	111
Lost:	9 sunk in battle 5 sunk as targets 7 others sunk or destroyed in other ways
Retired:	90 scrapped
Preserved:	0
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	1,154 tons (normal) 1247 tons (full load)
Length:	314 ft 4.5 in (95.82 m)
Beam:	30 ft 11.25 in (9.43 m)
Draught:	9 ft (2.74 m)
Propulsion:	4x300 psi (20 atm) unsuperheated Boilers1 2 Parsons Turbines1 (24,610 horsepower)
Speed:	35.3 Knots
Complement:	100 officers and enlisted
Armament:	4 1 x 4"/50 cal1 1 1 x 3"/23 AA1 4 X 3 21" torpedo tubes1

The Wickes-class destroyers were American destroyers built to create "a fleet second to none". The basic requirement for the class was a possible speed of 35 knots. Congress authorized the project's funding in 1916.

Background

With World War I now in its 2nd year and tensions between the United States of America and Germany increasing, the U.S. needed to expand the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Congress passed The Naval Appropriation Act of 29 August 1916, which called for a navy “second to none,” capable of protecting both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It authorized orders for 10 battleships, 6 Lexington-class battlecruisers, 10 Scout Cruisers of the Omaha class, and 50 Wickes class destroyers with a 35 knots top speed.².

Design

Armament consisted of 4 4"/50 caliber naval guns and 12 21" torpedo tubes. The design was flushed deck with four stacks. An increase in weight and cost was demanded by the increase in power. An even keel and near horizontal propeller shafts were designed to minimize weight increases. The armament would be considered to be about average for destroyers of this period. The class proved to be short ranged and wet in design. The fuel tankage would be expanded by 100 tons in the next Clemson class to correct the range problem. Only the development of at sea refueling (underway replenishment) UNREP would solve this issue however.

Production

The U.S. Congress would authorize 50 destroyers in the 1916 Naval expansion act. However the realization of the scope of the U-Boat campaign resulted in 111 being built. The 111 ships were built at Bath Iron Works, Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Union Iron Works, Mare Island Navy Yard, Newport News Shipbuilding, New York Shipbuilding and William Cramp and Sons shipyard.

Operations

A number of this class were transferred to the United Kingdom in the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. Others were converted to light minelayers with the designation DM. Some were converted to high speed transports with the designation APD. Most ships remaining in service during World War II were rearmed with dual-purpose 3"/50 caliber guns to provide better anti-aircraft protection.³ The AVD seaplane tender conversions received 2 guns; the APD transport, DM minelayer, and DMS minesweeper conversions received 3 guns, and those retaining destroyer classification received 6.⁴ Their original low-angle 4"/50 caliber guns (Mark 9) were transferred to Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships for anti-submarine protection.⁵

Wickes class ships

It should be noted that some of these ships are also referred to as being Little class, Lamberton class and Tattanall class to signify the yard that built them and to note the slight design differences from the Bath Iron Works ships. It is also worth noting that some of the non-Bath Iron Works units were actually commissioned prior to the class's lead ship, Wickes. USS Ward's keel was laid 15 May 1918 and was launched only 17 days later on 1 June 1918.

See also

• List of Wickes class destroyers

References

• Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War Two, Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1962). History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Supplement and General Index, Little, Brown and Company. 
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1968). U.S. Warships of World War II, Doubleday and Company. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Wickes class destroyers

• Wickes-class destroyers at Destroyer History Foundation
• The Pacific War: The U.S. Navy, page for Wickes class

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