Somers-class destroyer

Common card · No. 283265

The Somers-class destroyer was a class of five 1850-ton United States Navy destroyers based on the Porter class. They were answers to the large destroyers that the Japanese navy was building at the time, and were initially intended to be flotilla leaders. They were laid down from 1935–1936 and commissioned from 1937–1939. They were built to round-out the 13 destroyers of 1,850-ton standard displacement allowed by the tonnage limits of the London Naval Treaty and were originally intended to be repeat Porter ships. However, new high-pressure, high-temperature boilers became available, allowing the use of a single stack. This, combined with weight savings (including elimination of reload torpedoes), allowed an increase from two quadruple centerline torpedo tube mounts to three. However, the Somers-class ships were still overweight and top-heavy. This was the first US destroyer class to use 600 psi (4,100 kPa) steam superheated to 850 °F (454 °C), which became standard for US warships built...

Read on Wikipedia · Image U.S. Navy, Public domain