The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia

Wickes Class, U.S. Destroyers

Photograph of Wickes-class destroyer

Schematic diagram of Wickes class destroyer

ONI 222

Tonnage	1090 tons standard displacement
Dimensions	314'3" by 31'8" by 9'10" 95.78m by 9.65m by 3.00m
Maximum speed	35 knots
Complement	150
Armament	4x1 4"/50 guns 1 3"/23 AA gun 4x3 21" torpedo tubes 2 depth charge racks (15 depth charges) 1 depth charge thrower
Machinery	2-shaft Parsons turbines (24,200 shp) 4 White-Foster boilers
Range	2500 nautical miles (4600 km) at 20 knots
Fuel	295 tons fuel oil
Modifications	A number of units were converted before the war to light minelayers by replacing the torpedo banks with storage for 80 mines. These eventually replaced their 4" guns with 3"/50 AA guns and 4 20mm Oerlikon AA guns. 1940-1942: A number were converted to fast minesweepers armed with 4 3"/50 guns, 1x2 40mm Bofors AA guns, and 3 to 5 20mm guns. One boiler was removed. Squared-off false sterns were added to support minesweeping gear. Later two 60kW turbo-generators were installed to support magnetic mine sweeping. Some of these units later removed most of the 3" guns. 1942-1943: A number were converted to fast transports by replacing all torpedo banks with davits for four LCVPs. All fast transports eventually replaced the 4" guns with 6 3"guns, 2x1 40mm guns, and 5 20mm guns and removed their forward boilers, greatly reducing their speed. They could carry a company of Marines.

The Wickes were the first of two major groups of “flush-deck” destroyers ordered by the United States during World War I. Also known as “four-stackers,” they were essentially a mass production version of the Caldwells. (For example, Ward commissioned in just 70 days.) However, they were given more powerful machinery, which was intended to give them the speed to keep up with the Omaha-class scout cruisers and the (never-completed) Constellation-class battle cruisers. Because of the urgency placed on rapidly expanding the destroyer force, the Navy deliberately chose a familiar design with acceptable characteristics rather than a more innovative design resembling the new British "V&W" destroyers. As a result, these ships were already obsolescent when they joined the fleet in 1918-1920.

The ships had a serious reputation for rolling, and the "V" form adopted for the stern, while improving range, also made the ships very unmaneuverable, with a tactical diameter of 860 yards, which was about 40 to 50 percent greater than contemporary British destroyers. It was also discovered that the endurance varied greatly among units of the class. Those built at the Cramp or Bath yards exceeded requirements, while those built at Mare Island had little more than half the endurance of the Cramp and Bath ships in spite of being built to a nominally identical design. A proposal to replace one boiler with a fuel tank was rejected and the units with the poor range were the first to be retired.

The Wickes and succeeding Clemson classes were produced in such huge numbers that the United States had the largest destroyer force in the world by the time of the Washington naval conference. However, this posed a serious block obsolescence problem, which the Navy sought to mitigate through various modernization schemes; by laying up many of the ships in reserve; and by converting others to auxiliary duty as minecraft or fast transports. Some were turned over to the Coast Guard for use on the "Rum Runner" patrol. The availability of so many destroyers also meant that new destroyer construction came to a halt until 1930, and when it finally resumed, priority was put on flotilla leaders. These became the template for the more powerful mass production fleet destroyers of the Second World War.

Although 32 had been scrapped by 1940, so desperate were the Allies for destroyers in 1941 that the remaining ships constituted a significant part of their destroyer flotillas. Some 22 were transferred to the British as part of the destroyers-for-bases agreement that prefigured Lend-Lease.

The fast transport conversions were considered a success in the South Pacific, and additional units were converted, both from the Wickes and from other destroyer and destroyer escort classes.

Units in the Pacific:

Chew	Pearl Harbor
Crane	San Diego
Crosby	San Diego	Converted to fast transport 1943-2-1
Dent	San Diego	Converted to fast transport 1943-3-7
Kennison	San Diego	Converted to target ship 1944-11-9
Lawrence	San Diego
Schley	Pearl Harbor	Converted to fast transport 1943-2-16
Ward	Pearl Harbor	Converted to fast transport 1943-2-6. Crippled by kamikazes 1944-12-7 off Ormoc and scuttled.
Stewart	Tarakan	Scuttled 1942-3-2 at Surabaya. Raised and recommissioned by the Japanese as PB-102 on 1943-9-20
Talbot	San Diego	Converted to fast transport 1942-10-31
Waters	San Diego	Converted to fast transport 1942-2
Rathburne	San Diego	Training ship. Converted to fast transport 1944-6.

As light minelayers:

Gamble	Pearl Harbor	Crippled by aircraft 1945-2-18 and not repaired
Ramsay	Pearl Harbor
Montgomery	Pearl Harbor	Mined 1944-10-17 and not repaired
Breese	Pearl Harbor

As fast minesweepers:

Lamberton	Task Force 1
Boggs	Task Force 1
Dorsey	Task Force 3
Elliot	Task Force 3
Howard	Arrived 1943-11
Hogan	Arrived 1943-11-23
Palmer	Arrived 1943-11-23?	Sunk by aircraft 1945-1-7 at Lingayen Gulf
Stansbury	Arrived 1943-12-4
Hamilton	Arrived 1943-12-8

As destroyer-transports:

Gregory	Arrived 1942-2	Sunk by gunfire 1942-9-5 off Guadalcanal
Colhoun	converted 1942-4 (San Diego)	Sunk by aircraft 1942-8-30 off Guadalcanal
Little	converted 1942-4 (San Diego)	Sunk by gunfire 1942-9-5 off Guadalcanal
McKean	Arrived 1942-5	Sunk by aircraft 1943-11-15 in Empress Augusta Bay
Stringham	Arrived 1943-7-13
Kilty	converted 1943-1-2 (Mare Island)
Dickerson	Arrived 1943-11	Wrecked by kamikazes 1945-4-2 off Okinawa and scuttled
Herbert	Arrived 1944-3
Roper	Arrived 1945-2-5	Wrecked by kamikazes 1945-5-25 off Okinawa and not repaired

Photo Gallery

U.S. Navy

References

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