Robert H. Smith-class destroyer
Class of destroyer minelayers warship
Robert H. Smith -class destroyer
Class overview
Name Robert H. Smith class
Builders
Operators
Completed 12
Retired 12
General characteristics
Type Destroyer minelayer
Displacement 2,200 tons (standard)
Length 376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam 40 ft 10 in (12.45 m)
Draft 18 ft 10 in (5.74 m)
Propulsion 4 Babcock & Wilcox or Foster Wheeler boilers ; two General Electric or Westinghouse geared steam turbines , 60,000 shp (45,000 kW) total; two shafts
Speed 34 kn (63 km/h) max
Range 4,600 nmi (8,500 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement 363 standard
Armament
The Robert H. Smith class of destroyer minelayers was built by the United States during World War II . The class was named for naval officer Robert H. Smith .
These vessels were all originally laid down as Allen M. Sumner -class destroyers and converted during construction in 1944. In that time the United States produced twelve Robert H. Smith -class destroyer minelayers. Their original hull numbers were DD-735-40, 749-51, and 771-73.[ 2] None of the Robert H. Smith -class vessels ever laid a mine in wartime, though they were frequently employed in minesweeping . Minelayers did not carry torpedo tubes . Otherwise they were used interchangeably with other destroyer types. As radar pickets at Okinawa , Aaron Ward , Lindsey , and J. William Ditter were damaged by kamikazes , and Shea by a Baka bomb .[ 3] Five of the class served actively in the 1950s, but all survivors were mothballed by the end of the decade and were disposed of in the 1970s. None of this class received FRAM conversions.
Ships in class
Ship name
Hull no.
Builder
Laid down
Launched
Commissioned
Decommissioned
Fate
Robert H. Smith
DM-23 (ex-DD-735)
Bath Iron Works , Bath, Maine
10 January 1944
25 May 1944
4 August 1944
29 January 1947
Struck, 26 February 1971
Thomas E. Fraser
DM-24 (ex-DD-736)
31 January 1944
10 June 1944
22 August 1944
12 September 1955
Sold for scrap, 12 June 1974
Shannon
DM-25 (ex-DD-737)
14 February 1944
24 June 1944
8 September 1944
24 October 1955
Sold for scrap, May 1973
Harry F. Bauer
DM-26 (ex-DD-738)
6 March 1944
9 July 1944
22 September 1944
12 March 1956
Sold for scrap, 1 June 1974
Adams
DM-27 (ex-DD-739)
20 March 1944
23 July 1944
10 October 1944
December 1946
Sold for scrap, 16 December 1971
Tolman
DM-28 (ex-DD-740)
10 April 1944
13 August 1944
27 October 1944
29 January 1947
Sunk as a target 25 January 1997
Henry A. Wiley
DM-29 (ex-DD-749)
Bethlehem Staten Island , Staten Island , New York
28 November 1943
21 April 1944
31 August 1944
29 January 1947
Sold for scrap, 30 May 1972
Shea
DM-30 (ex-DD-750)
23 December 1943
20 May 1944
30 September 1944
9 April 1958
Sold for scrap, 1 September 1974
J. William Ditter
DM-31 (ex-DD-751)
25 January 1944
4 July 1944
28 October 1944
28 September 1945
Scrapped, July 1946
Lindsey
DM-32 (ex-DD-771)
Bethlehem Shipbuilding , San Pedro, California , Terminal Island
12 September 1943
5 March 1944
20 August 1944
25 May 1946
Sunk as a target 1 May 1972
Gwin
DM-33 (ex-DD-772)
31 October 1943
9 April 1944
30 September 1944
3 September 1946
Transferred to Turkey 15 August 1971
8 July 1952
3 April 1958
Aaron Ward
DM-34 (ex-DD-773)
12 December 1943
5 May 1944
28 October 1944
28 September 1945
Sold for scrap 1946
World War II destroyer shipbuilders map from Department of Defense (DoD)
References
^ Silverstone, p. 212
^ Silverstone, p. 212
^ Silverstone, p. 212
Sources
Friedman, Norman "US Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History (Revised Edition)", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis:2004, ISBN 1-55750-442-3 .
Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946 , Conway Maritime Press, 1980. ISBN 0-83170-303-2 .
Silverstone, Paul H., U.S. Warships of World War II (Ian Allan, 1965), ISBN 0-87021-773-9
External links