Forrest Sherman class destroyer

USS Hull (DD-945)
Class overview
Name:	Forrest Sherman class destroyer
Builders:	Bath Iron Works Bethlehem Steel Quincy Ingalls Shipbuilding Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Mitscher-class destroyer
Succeeded by:	Farragut-class destroyer
Built:	1953 – 1959
In commission:	1955 – 1988
Completed:	18
Retired:	18
Preserved:	4
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	2,800 tons standard 4,050 tons full load
Length:	407 ft (124 m) waterline 418 ft (127 m) overall
Beam:	45 ft (14 m)
Draft:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion:	General Electric steam turbines (Westinghouse in DD-931) 4 × 1,200 psi (8.3 MPa) Foster-Wheeler boilers (Babcock and Wilcox in DD-937, DD-943, DD-944, DD-945, DD-946 and DD-948) 70,000 shp (52 MW), 2 × shafts.
Speed:	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h)
Range:	4,500 nautical miles (8,300 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h)
Complement:	15 officers, 318 enlisted
Armament:	3 × 5 inch (127 mm) 54-calibre Mark 42 single gun mounts 4 × 3 inch (76 mm) 50-caliber Mark 33 guns 2 × Mark 10/11 Hedgehogs 4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes.

The 18 Forrest Sherman-class destroyers were the first US post-war destroyers (DD-927 to DD-930 were completed as frigates). Hull (DD-945) and later ships were equipped with B&W Bailey Meter Company's new automatic boiler combustion control system, and a modified hurricane bow/anchor configuration. These ships are listed as Hull-class destroyers in some references.

Description

The hedgehogs and 3-inch (76 mm) guns were removed from all ships during the 1960s and 1970s. In addition the fixed torpedo tubes were replaced by two triple 12.75 inches (324 mm) Mark 32 torpedo tube mounts.

USS Barry (DD-933) with aft gun mount removed and replaced with an ASROC launcher.

Eight of the class were modernized to improve their ASW capabilities, becoming the Barry class. These ships were fitted with an eight cell ASROC launcher in place of the No. 2 5-inch (130 mm) gun, and with a variable-depth sonar system.

Four of the destroyers—John Paul Jones (DD-932), Parsons (DD-949), Decatur (DD-936), and Somers (DD-947)—were converted to guided missile destroyers.

USS Decatur (DDG-31) after conversion to a guided missile destroyer with one of the aft gun mounts replaced with a Mk 13 missile launcher.

As a test platform, the Hull (DD-945) carried the Navy's prototype 8"/55 caliber Mark 71 gun light-weight gun from 1975-1978 when the program was canceled, and the 5-inch mount was restored. USS Hull remains the only modern destroyer-type to carry an 8-inch (203 mm) gun.

Nine ships were constructed by Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine, five were built by Bethlehem Steel at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, two were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding at Pascagoula, Mississippi and two were built by Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company in Seattle, Washington.

Of the 18 completed, nine were disposed of in fleet training exercises, five were sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping, two are museums and two are available for donation as a museum and memorial.

These destroyers used the hull numbers 931 to 951, skipping over the numbers used to designate the war prizes DD-934 (the Japanese ex-Hanazuki), DD-935 (the German T-35), and DD-939 (the German Z-39).

Ships in class

Ship Name	Hull No.	Builder	Commission– Decommission	Fate	Link
Forrest Sherman	DD-931	Bath Iron Works	1955–1982	Stricken, available for donation as museum/memorial, 10/10/1996
John Paul Jones	DD-932/DDG-32	Bath Iron Works	1956–1982	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 01/31/2001
Barry	DD-933	Bath Iron Works	1956–1982	Stricken, retained by Navy as museum, 01/31/1983; now museum in Washington, D.C.
Decatur	DD-936/DDG-31	Bethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard	1956–1983	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 07/21/2004
Davis	DD-937	Bethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard	1957–1982	Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping, 06/30/1994
Jonas Ingram	DD-938	Bethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard	1957–1983	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 07/23/1988
Manley	DD-940	Bath Iron Works	1957–1983	Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping, 06/30/1994
Du Pont	DD-941	Bath Iron Works	1957–1983	Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping, 12/11/1992
Bigelow	DD-942	Bath Iron Works	1957–1982	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 04/02/2003
Blandy	DD-943	Bethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard	1957–1982	Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping, 06/30/1994
Mullinnix	DD-944	Bethlehem Steel, Fore River Shipyard	1958–1983	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 08/23/1992
Hull	DD-945	Bath Iron Works	1958–1983	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 04/07/1998
Edson	DD-946	Bath Iron Works	1958–1988	Stricken, available for donation as museum/memorial, 06/14/2004
Somers	DD-947/DDG-34	Bath Iron Works	1959–1982	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 07/22/1998
Morton	DD-948	Ingalls Shipbuilding	1959–1982	Disposed of, sold by Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping, 03/04/1992
Parsons	DD-949/DDG-33	Ingalls Shipbuilding	1959–1982	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 04/25/1989
Richard S. Edwards	DD-950	Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company	1959–1982	Disposed of in support of Fleet training exercise, 04/10/1997
Turner Joy	DD-951	Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Company	1959–1982	Donated as a museum/memorial, 04/10/1991; now museum in Bremerton, WA

External links

• Forrest Sherman-class destroyers at Destroyer History Foundation