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US Destroyers 1934-45: Pre-war classes (New Vanguard)

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US Destroyers 1934-45: Pre-war classes (New Vanguard)

(4 customer reviews)

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Description

The US Navy's most modern destroyers as it entered World War II were 100 ships from eleven classes introduced in the 1930s: 1,500-tonners and 1,850-ton destroyer leaders designed to conform to the 1930 London Naval Treaty, plus the successor 1,570-ton Sims class and the first-commissioned 1,620- and 1,630-tonners of the Benson and Gleaves classes. Collectively, these destroyers carried the Navy through the war’s first year when the outcome was in doubt: while most 1,500-tonners and leaders were assigned to front line duty in the Pacific before being relegated to secondary assignments, the later Bensons and Gleaves became the standard destroyers for Atlantic and Mediterranean operations and remained prominent in the Pacific throughout the war. This volume describes the fascinating design story behind these developmental classes – from the constraints of peacetime treaties to advances in propulsion engineering and wartime modifications. With an operational overview of their service and tables listing all 169 ships by class, builder, and initial squadron, this is a definitive guide to the pre-war US destroyer classes.

Product Details

Author:	Dave McComb
Paperback:	48 pages
Publisher:	Osprey Publishing
Publication Date:	January 26, 2010
Language:	English
ISBN:	1846034434
Package Length:	9.61 inches
Package Width:	7.09 inches
Package Height:	0.24 inches
Package Weight:	0.31 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 4 reviews

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: 4.0

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0 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Please pick a standard format! Jul 27, 2010
I have bought several of the New Vanguard titles. I especially enjoyed the organization of the US Pre-War aircraft carriers. It discussed each class: design, modifications, operational history, and an evaluation of the design and performance of the ships in action.

I hoped for the same thing with the Pre-War destroyers but it fell short; probably for lack of space. I understand that the operational histories of all the pre-war destroyers would burn up a lot of pages but an analysis of each classes' design and performance would have been nice. Essentially the analysis boiled down to (and I paraphrase) "despite their limitations they did pretty well."

3 of 4 found the following review helpful:

Destroyers Light Mar 12, 2010
While not a comprehensive review like Friedman, this book gave a solid overview of the various classes of pre-war destroyers and was an enjoyable read.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

A Useful Reference Feb 02, 2010
Although the operations of the U.S. Navy's aircraft carriers and submarines in the Second World War have attracted great attention over the years, it was the ubiquitous destroyers that actually provided the backbone of the fleet when their were few carriers available and the submarines were plagued by faulty torpedoes. In Osprey's US Destroyers 1934-45, destroyer specialist David McComb provides a wealth of information on the U.S. destroyer classes built between 1932-1942. These pre-war destroyers, comprising 169 ships in 11 classes, are not as well known as the war-time Fletcher-class, but these are the destroyers that formed the cutting edge of both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets in the early years of the Second World War. Overall, this is a very effective and concise summary which should prove very useful for naval buffs.

After a brief introduction that discusses the development of American inter-war destroyers and the post-World War One building holiday until 1932, McComb begins with a class by class synopsis. For each class, the author provides a brief summary of its development and lists all ships and hull numbers in a table. The author also makes several interesting comments about the pre-war destroyers, such as the superior quality of construction used, the decision to add Main Battery Directors and the risky decision to use high-pressure steam plants. Throughout these concise sections, the author's insight on the development of American destroyers is quite clear. The author then goes into a few pages on modernization of these destroyers, including radar and improved anti-aircraft defenses, but this section is a bit thin on detail. The actual offensive and defensive capabilities of these destroyers are listed in statistical terms, but a graphic showing the anti-aircraft umbrella would have been more useful.

Fully half the volume covers the major combat operations of the pre-war destroyers during the Second World War, but this only gives a flavor of destroyer operations. Also, the emphasis is on destroyer operations in 1942-45, with much less on the early war period when these ships were virtually the only game in town. Graphically, this volume is very appealing: there are two battle scenes (USS Tillman versus German glide bombs off Naples in November 1943; Moosbrugger's Task Group 31.2 enroute to Vella Gulf, August 1943), eight side profiles (USS Wainwright of Sims-class, 1944; USS Hilary P. Jones of Benson-class, 1944; USS Ralph Talbot of Bagley-class, 1943; USS Sterett of Benham class, 1943; USS Dewey of Farragut-class, 1944; USS Smith of Mahan-class, 1944; USS Landsowne of Gleaves-class, 1945; USS Ellyson, 1945) and a cutaway color profile of USS Morris, Sims-class, 1942. However, there are no depictions of any of the destroyers in pre-war colors or configurations (e.g. no radar) and certain classes such as the Porter- and Somers- class are not well represented here. The author includes multiple tables (Pre-WW2US Navy Destroyer Classes by Fiscal Year; Design specifications for each class and recognition features, plus several on Pacific/Atlantic Fleet destroyer squadrons formed in 1942-44), which has quite a bit of useful data. Yet there is no mention of how much individual destroyers cost and I would have liked to known why the cost of each class doubled between 1932 and 1937 (my guess would be the high pressure steam plant played a large role in driving up the cost). There is also no discussion about how naval intelligence data on foreign destroyer programs influenced American destroyer design, but this would have been useful as well. Nevertheless, this is an excellent summary of U.S. prewar destroyer classes and once the author completes the next volume on wartime classes, these should prove to be handy references.

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:

Destroyers distilled to their essence Feb 02, 2010
The Osprey format-- many illustrations on 48 pages of text--doesn't give an author much range to roam "US Destroyers 1934-45: Pre-war classes" is remarkable in that it distills so much useful, even hard to find information into this format. An author can only do this when he knows his subject very well which Dave McComb clearly does.

McComb gives a succinct overview of the design and development philosophy and goals for these classes and then takes the reader on a class-by-class overview. Talking about the Dunlap, Bagley and Gridley classes, for example, we learn that these ships were built in haste to provide employment during the depression. They did not improve upon the preceding class because, with "20,000 engineering drawing already in use, Gibbs & Cox had neither the time nor the benefit of experience at sea on which to base any redesign." The book includes sections on modifications, new technologies like radar, and an extensive discussion of the operations and actions of these classes. About Vella Gulf, "Moosbrugger's division launched 24 torpedoes and turned away. `After what seemed like an eternity,' he wrote in his action report, the first three [Japanese destroyers] exploded and Simpson's division finished them off. Alert Shigure fired a return torpedo spread at Moosbrugger, which missed, took a dud hit in the rudder, make smoke, and escaped." This is a tight narrative that gives the reader the essence of the action and its results without wasting a precious word.

My favorite parts of the book are the many tables that give specifications, organization, modifications, hull numbers, awards and losses. I suspect, most readers would vote for the illustrations, however. The paintings are beautiful and the photographs give a good overview of the ships, the men, details and operations.

I recommend this book highly.