Evarts-class destroyer escort

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USS Evarts in August 1944
Class overview
Name	Evarts class
Builders	Boston Navy Yard, MA Mare Island Navy Yard, CA Puget Sound Navy Yard, WA Philadelphia Navy Yard, PA
Operators	United States Navy  Royal Navy  Republic of China Navy
Preceded by	N/A
Succeeded by	Buckley class
Planned	105
Completed	97
Cancelled	8
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer escort
Displacement	1,360 tons (fully loaded)
Length	289 ft 6 in (88.2 m) (overall)
Beam	35 ft (10.7 m)
Draft	9 ft (2.7 m) (fully loaded)
Propulsion	4 × GM Model 16-278A diesel engines with electric drive, two propellers
Speed	19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) (Many ships were capable of 21–22 knots)
Range	5,000 mi (4,300 nmi; 8,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Sensors and processing systems	Radar: Type SL Surface search and type SA Air search only fitted to certain ships. Asdic (Sonar): Type 128D or Type 144 both in retractable dome. Direction Finding: MF Direction Finding and HF/DF Type FH 4 antenna
Armament	Main guns: 3 × 3 inch/50 guns in open mounts Anti-aircraft guns: 7 × Oerlikon 20 mm guns Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar Depth Charges: Up to 160 depth charges were carried.

The Evarts-class destroyer escorts were destroyer escorts launched in the United States in 1942–44. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare ships. They were also known as the GMT or "short hull" DE class, with GMT standing for General Motors Tandem Diesel drive.

The lead ship was USS Evarts, launched on 7 December 1942, exactly a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The first ship to be completed was commissioned on 20 January 1943 at the Boston Navy Yard; it was delivered to the Royal Navy under the Lend-Lease provisions and became HMS Bayntun. Evarts-class ships were driven by diesel-electric power with four diesel engines mounted in tandem with electric drives. The ships were prefabricated in sections at various factories in the United States and the units brought together in the shipyards, where they were welded together on the slipways. The original design specified eight engines for 24 knots but other priority programs forced the use of only four with a consequent shortening of the hull.^[1]

In all, 105 Evarts-class ships were ordered with 8 later being cancelled. The United States Navy commissioned 65 while 32 Evarts-class ships were delivered to the Royal Navy. They were classed as frigates and named after captains of the Napoleonic Wars and formed part of the Captain class along with 46 ships of the Buckley class.