| Tonnage | 1590 tons standard displacement |
| Dimensions | 340'10" by 35'10" by 12'9" 103.89m by 10.92m by 3.89m |
| Maximum speed | 38.5 knots |
| Complement | 158 |
| Armament | 4 5"/38
dual-purpose guns 4x4 21" torpedo tubes 4 0.50 machine guns Depth charges |
| Machinery |
2-shaft Bethlehem geared
turbines (50,000 shp) 4 Yarrow boilers |
| Bunkerage | 600 tons fuel oil |
| Range | 6500 nautical miles (12,000km) at 12 knots |
| Modifications |
Machine guns replaced by 6 20mm Oerlikon AA guns. 1943: Two more 20mm guns added. |
The Gridleys were
completed in 1937-1938. They
were the result of pressure on the designers by strong protagonists of
torpedo armament, who wanted even more torpedo banks than on the Mahans.
There was not enough deck space for four centerline torpedo banks, even
with the gun armament reduced to 4 5" guns, and the ships were equipped
with two banks on each side instead. The top weight made them the least
stable of all U.S. destoyer designs. However, they were the first U.S.
destroyers to have fully enclosed forward gun
mounts. Their machinery was of the latest type, with steam pressure of
565 psi (3900 kPa) that gave them unprecedented speed.
Considering the poor
quality of U.S.
torpedoes, the decision to carry so many torpedoes, only half of which
could be launched in a single broadside, at the expense of a balanced
gun armament was most unfortunate. Their lack of stability made them
the only class of U.S. destroyers that never shipped quad 40mm Bofors antiaircraft armament. No other
class of U.S. destroyers was built in such small numbers, which may
have reflected the Navy's disappointment with the design.
| Gridley | with Task Force 8 (Enterprise) |
| Craven
|
with Task Force 8 (Enterprise) |
| McCall | with Task Force 8 (Enterprise) |
| Maury | with Task Force 8 (Enterprise) |
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007, 2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index
