Porter-class destroyer

USS Balch — the eighth and final Porter-class destroyer — on 23 September 1936
Class overview
NamePorter class
Builders
Operators United States Navy
Preceded byFarragut class
Succeeded byMahan class
Built1933–1937
In commission1936–1950
Completed8
Lost1
Retired7
General characteristics
TypeDestroyer
Displacement
  • 1,850 tons standard,
  • 2,663 tons full load
Length381 ft (116 m)
Beam36 ft 2 in (11.02 m)
Draft10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 shafts
Speed37 kn (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range6,380 nautical miles (11,820 km; 7,340 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement
  • 13 officers, 193 enlisted (peacetime)
  • 290 (wartime)
Sensors and
processing systems
  • as built: 2 × Mk35 GFCS[1]
  • typical: single Mk35 or Mk37 GFCS.
  • 1 × SC radar
Armament
NotesArmament varied greatly from ship to ship during World War II.

The Porter-class destroyers were a class of eight 1,850-ton large destroyers in the United States Navy. Like the preceding Farragut-class, their construction was authorized by Congress on 26 April 1916, but funding was delayed considerably. They were designed based on a 1,850-ton standard displacement limit imposed by the London Naval Treaty; the treaty's tonnage limit allowed 13 ships of this size, and the similar Somers class was built later to meet the limit. The first four Porters were laid down in 1933 by New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey, and the next four in 1934 at Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts. All were commissioned in 1936 except Winslow, which was commissioned in 1937. They were built in response to the large Fubuki-class destroyers that the Imperial Japanese Navy was building at the time and were initially designated as flotilla leaders. They served extensively in World War II, in the Pacific War, the Atlantic, and in the Americas. Porter was the class' only loss, in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942.

  1. ^ Friedman p. 404