Benham-class destroyer

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USS Ellet in February 1939
Class overview
NameBenham class
Builders
Operators United States Navy
Preceded bySomers class
Succeeded bySims class
Built1936–1939
In commission1939–1946
Completed10
Lost2
Retired8
General characteristics
TypeDestroyer
Displacement
  • 1,656 tons (standard)
  • 1,888 tons (normal)
  • 2,250 tons (full load)
Length340 ft 9 in (103.86 m)
Beam35 ft 6 in (10.82 m)
Draught13 ft 3 in (4.04 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts
Speed37.9 knots (70.2 km/h; 43.6 mph) on trials
Range5,390 nmi (9,980 km; 6,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement
  • 9 officers, 175 enlisted (peacetime)
  • 16 officers, 235 enlisted (wartime)
Sensors and
processing systems
Armament

The Benham class of ten

atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.[5]

Design

The ten Benhams were part of a series of three classes with similar characteristics laid down 1935-1937. The other two were the Gridley class (4 ships) and the Bagley class (8 ships). All three featured four 5-inch (127 mm) dual purpose guns (anti-surface and anti-aircraft) and sixteen 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes in four quadruple mounts as built, the largest number of torpedo tubes on any US destroyers.

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company with advanced high-pressure boilers (also built by Bethlehem) but turbines generally similar to the earlier Farragut class, which limited their range.[2][3][6]

Engineering

Except for the 1850-ton

Westinghouse.[9]

Armament

The Benhams had the same armament as the Gridleys and Bagleys: four

Treaty cruisers built in the 1920s and 1930s lacked torpedoes; eventually all of the US Treaty cruisers' torpedoes were removed in 1941 in favor of additional heavy AA guns.[11]

As with most other US destroyers of this period, the 5-inch guns featured all-angle power loading and were

enclosed mounts, while the after guns were open. However, in the Benhams, the after two mounts were a Mark 30 Mod 1 base-ring type with an integral ammunition hoist fed from a handling room below each gun, as in an enclosed mount.[3][6][12] This allowed some of the class to be fitted with an enclosure for No. 4 gun and an open-top shield for No. 3 gun while on Neutrality Patrol in the Atlantic in 1941; but the shields were removed later to save weight for light anti-aircraft armament.[5][13] In common with all US surface combatants in the 1930s, the as-built light AA armament was weak; only four .50 caliber machine guns (12.7 mm) were equipped. It was apparently felt that the heavy AA armament would shoot down most incoming aircraft in all situations, but the attack on Pearl Harbor showed that this was not true.[14]

While on Neutrality Patrol, some of the class landed their after torpedo tube mounts and .50-caliber machine guns so that their

40 mm Bofors mounts on their after deckhouses before being transferred to the Pacific. In 1945, Lang, Sterett, and Wilson also landed their remaining torpedo tubes and after 5-inch gun shields in favor of a total of four 40 mm twin mounts and four 20 mm twin mounts.[5][17]

Service

This class, except Benham and Ellet, served on Neutrality Patrols in the Atlantic and escort duty in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as Destroyer Squadron 8 (with Wainwright as flagship) from April 1940 to December 1941. Benham and Ellet were at sea in the Pacific on 7 December 1941 with Dunlap and Fanning of the Mahan class as Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 12 (part of Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 6, with Balch as flagship). Later, this four-ship division escorted the aircraft carrier Enterprise during the Doolittle Raid on Japan.[5]

In June 1942, while DesDiv 15 (Lang, Stack, Sterett and Wilson) escorted the aircraft carrier Wasp to the Pacific, DesDiv 16 (Mayrant, Trippe, Rhind, and Rowan) remained in the Atlantic, supporting the Operation Torch landings in North Africa in December 1942. In 1943 they served off Italy, where Mayrant was badly damaged by a German air attack off Palermo and Rowan sunk by an E-boat (torpedo boat) attack off Salerno.[5]

Meanwhile, the six Pacific destroyers operated in the

Kwajalein in 1948.[5]

Battle of Guadalcanal and the Battle of Vella Gulf,[4] and the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation
for her World War II service.

Ships in class

Ships of the Benham destroyer class[6]
Name Hull no. Builder Laid down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Fate
Benham DD-397 Federal Shipbuilding 1 September 1936 16 April 1938 2 February 1939 — Torpedoed by Japanese at Naval Battle of Guadalcanal 15 November 1942, scuttled by Gwin[18]
Ellet DD-398 3 December 1936 11 June 1938 17 February 1939 29 October 1945 Sold for scrap 1 August 1947
Lang DD-399 5 April 1937 28 August 1938 30 March 1939 16 October 1945 Sold for scrap 31 October 1947
Mayrant DD-402 Boston Navy Yard 15 April 1937 14 May 1938 13 September 1939 28 August 1946 Damaged during
Kwajalein
, 4 April 1948
Trippe DD-403 1 November 1939 28 August 1946 Damaged during
Kwajalein
, 3 February 1948
Rhind DD-404 Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 22 September 1937 28 July 1938 10 November 1939 26 August 1946 Damaged during
Kwajalein
, 22 March 1948
Rowan DD-405
Norfolk Navy Yard
 25 June 1937 5 May 1938 23 September 1939 — Torpedoed by German E-boats while on convoy duty between Salerno and Oran 11 September 1943
Stack DD-406 20 November 1939 29 August 1946 Damaged during
Kwajalein
, 24 April 1948
Sterett DD-407
Charleston Navy Yard
 2 December 1936 27 October 1938 15 August 1939 2 November 1945 Sold for scrap 10 August 1947
Wilson DD-408
Puget Sound Navy Yard
 22 March 1937 12 April 1939 5 July 1939 29 August 1946 Damaged during
Kwajalein
, 8 March 1948

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benham class destroyers.

References

Citations

  1. ^ Friedman p. 409
  2. ^ a b c Comparison of 1500-ton classes Archived 26 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine at Destroyer History Foundation Archived 19 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b c d e f Friedman, pp. 90-91
  4. ^ a b USS Sterett Presidential Unit Citation at Destroyer History Foundation Archived 19 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ a b c d e f Behham-class destroyers Archived 7 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine at Destroyer History Foundation Archived 19 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ a b c Bauer and Roberts, p. 187
  7. ^ USS Benham, USS Ellet, and USS Lang General Information Book with as-built data at Destroyer History Foundation Archived 19 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Friedman, p. 469
  9. ^ Friedman, pp. 465-469
  10. ^ "Torpedo History: Torpedo Mk 15". Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  11. ^ Gardiner and Chesneau, pp. 112-116
  12. ^ DiGiulian, Tony, 5"/38 Mark 12 gun at NavWeaps.com Archived 5 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Photo gallery of USS Sterett (DD-407) at NavSource.org
  14. ^ Friedman, pp. 203-204
  15. ^ Friedman, p. 194
  16. ^ USS Mayrant (DD-402) photo gallery at NavSource.org
  17. ^ Friedman, pp. 218-219
  18. ^ Lenton, H. T. American Fleet and Escort Destroyers (New York: Doubleday, 1973), Volume 1, p.62.

Sources

External links

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