List of destroyer classes of the United States Navy

The first automotive torpedo was developed in 1866, and the torpedo boat was developed soon after. In 1898, while the Spanish–American War was being fought in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt wrote that torpedo boats were the only threat to the American navy, and pushed for the acquisition of torpedo boat destroyers. On 4 May 1898, the US Congress authorized the first sixteen torpedo boat destroyers and twelve seagoing torpedo boats for the United States Navy.

In World War I, the U.S. Navy began mass-producing destroyers, laying 273 keels of the Clemson and Wickes class destroyers. The peace time years between 1919&mdash;1941, resulted in many of these flush deck destroyers being laid up. Additionally, treaties regulated destroyer construction. During World War II, the United States began building destroyers with five-gun main batteries, but without stability problems.

The first major warship produced by the U.S. Navy after World War II (and in the Cold War) were "frigates"&mdash;the ships were actually designated destroyer leaders but later reclassified as guided missile destroyers. Other classes were produced, including the last all-gun destroyers. A special class was produced for the Shah of Iran, but due to the Iranian Revolution these ships could not be delivered and were added to the U.S. Navy.

The Arleigh Burke class, introduced in 1991, has been the U.S. Navy's only destroyer class in commission since 2005; construction is expected to continue through at least 2012. A future class, Zumwalt, is also planned. The Zumwalt class is expected to number three ships.

Pre–World War I
In 1864, US Navy Lt. William B. Cushing sank the ironclad CSS Albemarle using a "spar torpedo"&mdash;an explosive device mounted on a long pole and detonated underwater. Two years later in Austria, the British engineer Robert Whitehead developed a compressed air "automotive" torpedo; capable of 6 - 8 kn over a distance of 200 - 400 yd. The threat a small, fast, torpedo–delivering ship could pose to the battle line became clear to navies around the world; giving birth to the torpedo boat, including the USS Cushing (TB-1) of the United States Navy.

During the Spanish–American War, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt wrote torpedo boats were "the only real menace" to the fleet blockading Santiago; and pushed for the acquisition of torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers. As President, Theodore Roosevelt continued to pay close attention to naval affairs, including the expansion of the Navy's fleet of destroyers.

In 1898 Congress authorized 16 torpedo boat destroyers, which would join the fleet by 1903. The first torpedo boat destroyers, the Bainbridge class, featured two torpedo tubes and two 3 inch guns, displacing 400 ST. The Smith and Paulding classes displaced 740 ST, the reason these classes were nicknamed "flivvers" (lightweights). By the time the United States entered World War I, destroyers displaced 1000 ST and burned oil instead of coal. These "1000 tonners" were armed with eight torpedo tubes, four 4 inch/50 caliber guns; and had a complement of approximately 100 officers and men. The 1000 tonners were classes Cassin through Sampson, and were also called "broken deckers", due to the high forecastles.

World War I
Prior to entering World War I in 1917, the United States began producing destroyers to a new design with a continuous sheer strake, collectively referred to as "flush deckers." Six prototypes of the Caldwell class were dissimilar: three had three stacks; two of these also had three screws. The others of this and the 267 ships of the mass-production Wickes and Clemson classes that followed all had two screws. As built, they also had four stacks, which gave rise to the nicknames "four stackers" or "four pipers". Eleven shipyards participated in their construction, which peaked in 1917 and 1918. By the time of the armistice, November 11, 1918, keels for 177 ships had been laid and 41 had joined the fleet. Though the remaining ships were not needed in peacetime, the building program continued and by the end of May 1921, all but four of the 273 flush-deckers had been placed in commission. The final two did not follow until August 1922.

While the flush-deckers' freeboard fore and aft were designed to match preceding classes, the new ships differed in other respects. The waist guns were moved to a platform amidships, the galley beneath them; and a bulwark between the galley and the bridge.

The standard displacement of the flush deck destroyers was 1200 +/-, the length approximately 314 ft, the beam measured approximately 31 ft, and the draft approximately 116 in. A typical flush deck destroyer had a normal crew of 105 officers and men, and was armed with four 4-inch deck guns, one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun, 12 21-inch torpedo tubes, two stern-mounted depth charge racks, along with 50 caliber machine guns and small arms. The mass-produced classes also had four boilers providing steam to a pair of turbines, each of which drove a 9 ft screw at a combined 27000 shp for a top speed of about 33 kn.

Between the world wars
After the end of World War I, there was little need for the destroyers built, so many were laid up, and fourteen had their torpedo tubes removed and were converted to minesweepers. On September 8, 1923, seven of the ships ran aground off the coast of California&mdash;the U.S. Navy's worst ever peacetime disaster.

In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty, was signed by the United States, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, France, and Italy. The treaty called for a freeze in size and composition of the world's major navies, including the U.S. Navy, which ceased production of large capital ships. The London Naval Treaty, a 1930 agreement between the same parties, established total destroyer tonnage limits for the navies. The treaty also defined two categories: destroyer and destroyer leader; along with the maximum tonnage of each category, and the allowable ratio of one category to another.

In the London Naval Treaty, destroyers were established as "surface vessels of war the Standard Displacement (S.D.) of which does not exceed 1,850 tons and with a gun not above 5.1 inch caliber", as published in Ship’s Data for U.S. Naval Vessels. The “total completed tonnage not to be exceeded on December 31, 1936” was 150,000 S.D., but “not more than 16% of the allowed tonnage... shall be employed in vessels over 1,500 tons S.D.”. The new, higher limits rendered the existing flush-deckers obsolete, and the General Board soon moved to replace them. Since Japan was considered a probable adversary, the General Board replaced the four stackers with ships that could carry large quantities of fuel, ammunition, and supplies as needed to conduct operations across the vast Pacific Ocean.

The U.S. Navy resumed destroyer construction in 1932 with the Farragut class. For the next seven years, the United States Navy constructed "1500 tonners", or "goldplaters". The goldplaters earned this name because of the "over–lavish facilities", which drew comment from seasoned destroyermen. The armament of the Farragut and Mahan class destroyers initially included five 5 inch guns, a number later reduced to four due to stability problems. The 1500 ton Mahan, Dunlap, Gridley, Bagley, and Benham classes, the 1570 ton Sims class, and the Porter and Somers class destroyer leaders were all laid down in quick succession following the original goldplaters.

The Gleaves and Benson classes were similar in design to the Sims class, but had two stacks and a "split" powerplant for extra endurance against torpedo attacks.

World War II
On December 7, 1941, the day the United States entered World War II, the United States Navy had 100 destroyers seven years old or newer. This number included 27 Benson and Gleaves class destroyers. However, none were equipped with torpedoes comparable to the (then unknown) Type 93 torpedos (Long Lance torpedo ) of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and only destroyer leaders had more than four main guns&mdash;inferior to the five- to eight-guns on a Japanese Fubuki class destroyer (the first 24 ships of the Benson/Gleaves class were built with five guns, but excessive topweight led to one being removed).

After World War II broke out across Europe in 1939, the United States Navy began sketches for a five-gun ship&mdash; on an enlarged hull. Introduced in 1942, the 175 Fletcher class "2100 tonners". became the U.S. Navy's signature destroyer in the Pacific War. By the end of World War II, the U.S. Navy had also commissioned 112 six-gun destroyers derived from the Fletcher design; 67 Allen M. Sumner class 2200 tonners and 45 Gearing class 2250 tonners. The Allen M. Sumner class' hull was slightly wider than the Fletcher class' while the Gearing class design was a lengthened version of the Sumners. Collectively, these destroyer designs are sometimes regarded as the most successful of World War II.

Cold War and beyond
The first major warship the U.S. Navy constructed after World War II was an all-weather, anti-submarine hunter-killer, designated "destroyer leader" (DL), but referred to as a "frigate". In 1975, the twelve remaining Mitscher- and Farragut- classes were reclassified as guided missile destroyers (DDGs 35-46).

Derived from the Fletcher concept, the all-gun Forrest Sherman class destroyer was the successor to the Fletcher, the Allen M. Sumner, and the Gearing classes. The following Charles F. Adams classes added a guided missile launcher on an enlarged hull.

The Spruance class was designed to serve as all-weather anti-submarine escorts for aircraft carrier task forces, as their anti-air missile complement was only sufficient for point defense. The Spruance class destroyers were the first ships in the United States Navy powered with gas turbines&mdash;four marine jet engines driving two shafts with reversible-pitch propellers. The 31 Spruance class ships began service in September 1975 through the 1990s, when 24 members of the class were upgraded with Vertical launching systems, and the last was decommissioned in 2005. The Kidd class was based on the Spruance class, but designed as more advanced multi-purpose ships, intended for the Iranian Navy. In 1979, a revolution took place in Iran, the Shah was dethroned but instead of cancelling the four ships, they were taken into the U.S. Navy, where they were nicknamed the "Ayatollah" or "dead Admiral" class.

The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), the lead ship of the Arleigh Burke class, was the first destroyer named after a living person&mdash;World War II Admiral Arleigh Burke. At her commissioning, the USS Arleigh Burke was extolled as the most powerful surface warship ever built. The USS Arleigh Burke is one-third longer and correspondingly heavier than the Fletcher class destroyers of the squadron Burke commanded in World War II; but about the same complement. The Arleigh Burke class destroyers were based around the Aegis Combat System, like the larger Ticonderoga class cruisers. The Arleigh Burke class was introduced in four "flights": Flight I, consisting of Arleigh Burke; Flight IA composed of 20 ships; Flight II, composed of 7 ships; and Flight IIA, composed of 34 ships. The Arleigh Burke class became the U.S. Navy's only active destroyer class when the last member of the Spruance class was decommissioned in 2005.

The Zumwalt class destroyer, a future class, is planned to cost US$3.3 billion for the first unit; subsequent units will cost an estimated US$2.5 billion; however, the average cost could rise to US$5 billion or more.