Porter-class destroyer

USS Balch — the eighth and final Porter-class destroyer — on 23 September 1936
Class overview
Name	Porter class
Builders	New York Shipbuilding, NJ (4) Bethlehem Fore River, MA (4)
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Farragut class
Succeeded by	Mahan class
Built	1933–1937
In commission	1936–1950
Completed	8
Lost	1
Retired	7
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	1,850 tons standard, 2,663 tons full load
Length	381 ft (116 m)
Beam	36 ft 2 in (11.02 m)
Draft	10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)
Installed power	4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 geared steam turbines, 50,000 shaft horsepower (37,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts
Speed	37 kn (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range	6,380 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	As Built: 8 × 5-inch/38 caliber guns (127 mm) (4 × 2) 8 × 1.1-inch/75 caliber guns (28 mm) (2 × 4) 2 × .50 caliber machine guns (12.7 mm) 8 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2 × 4), 16 torpedoes 2 × Depth charge stern racks c. 1942: 8 × 5-inch/38 caliber guns (4 × 2) 2 × Bofors 40 mm guns (1 × 2) 6 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannons 8 × 21 inch torpedo tubes (2 × 4), 16 torpedoes 2 × Depth charge stern racks
Notes	Armament 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.