NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Caldwell 1918

Ships

No	Name	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comm	Fate
DD69	Caldwell		Mare Island N Yd, Vallejo	12.1916	10.7.1917	12.1917	stricken 1.1936
DD70	Craven, 11.1939- Conway		Norfolk N Yd, Portsmouth	11.1917	29.6.1918	10.1918	to United Kingdom 10.1940 (Lewes)
DD71	Gwin	87	Todd, Tacoma	6.1917	22.12.1917	3.1920	stricken 1.1937
DD72	Conner	436	Cramp, Philadelphia	10.1916	21.8.1917	1.1918	to United Kingdom 10.1940 (Leeds)
DD73	Stockton	437	Cramp, Philadelphia	10.1916	17.7.1917	11.1917	to United Kingdom 10.1940 (Ludlow)
DD74, 11.1938- AG28, 8.1940- APD1, 6.1945- DD74	Manley	70	Bath Iron Wks	8.1916	23.8.1917	10.1917	auxiliary 11.1938, fast amphibious transport 8.1940, destroyer 6.1945, stricken 12.1945

Technical data

Data variant	as commissioned	APD conversion
Displacement standard, t	1120	1315
Displacement full, t	1187	1793
Length, m	94.5 wl 96.2 oa	96.2
Breadth, m	9.30	9.30
Draught, m	2.70	3.76
No of shafts	DD69 - 71, 74: 2 DD72, 73: 3	2
Machinery	DD69: 2 sets Curtis geared steam turbines, 4 Thornycroft boilers DD70, 71: 2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 4 Thornycroft boilers DD72, 73: 3 Curtis steam turbines / 1 geared steam turbine for cruising, 4 Yarrow boilers DD74: 2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 4 Normand boilers	2 sets Parsons geared steam turbines, 2 Normand boilers
Power, h. p.	18500	13000
Max speed, kts	30	22 - 24
Fuel, t	oil 310	oil 429
Endurance, nm(kts)	2500(20)
Armament	DD69, 72 - 74: 4 x 1 - 102/50 Mk IX, 2 x 1 - 37/43 Mk VI/VII, 4 x 3 - 533 TT, 2 DCR DD70, 71: 4 x 1 - 102/50 Mk IX, 2 x 1 - 37/43 Mk VI/VII, 4 x 3 - 533 TT, 1 DCT, 2 DCR	3 x 1 - 102/50 Mk 9, 4 x 1 - 12.7/90, 4 DCT, 2 DCR
Military load	---	4 LCP(L) or LCP(R), 120 troops
Electronic equipment	---	QCJ sonar
Complement	100	101

Graphics

Project history

The first of the famous 'flush deckers', these ships were intermediate between the 'thousand tonners' and the mass-production destroyers of World War One. Their characteristics essentially duplicated those of the earlier ships, but C&R proposed a new flush-deck hull form, to reduce rolling and pitching. Beam and midship cross-section both increased slightly, and draft had to be reduced in compensation. That in turn would have reduced hull depth (hence strength) in a conventional broken-forecastle hull; C&R solved the problem by increasing freeboard amidships, so that hull scantlings (hence weight) could beheld down. The designers hoped that dryness could be preserved, since the bow freeboard of earlier ships was retained. In practice, however, the flush-deckers were far wetter than their predecessors. Shallow draft also meant that the propellers would not be deep enough, and the ships had to be designed with a drag, ie with a keel sloping aft.

Steam Engineering proposed a new triple-screw power-plant, the centre shaft being driven by the high-pressure turbine, with a geared cruising turbine clutched to it. The sketch design also showed three rather than four funnels, the two inner ones being trunked together. In practice, however, only the two Cramp ships followed the original design. The other four had twin screws (with Curtis geared turbines in DD 69, Parsons geared turbines in the others). Only the two Cramp ships and the Gwin had triple funnels. Unlike the mass-production 'flush-deckers', these ships had cutaway (vice cruiser) sterns.

Modernizations

1918, all: - 2 x 1 - 37/43; + 2 x 1 - 76/23 Mk XIV

1918, Caldwell, Conner, Stockton, Manley: + 1 DCT

1930s, all survived: - 1 x 1 - 76/23; + 2 x 1 - 12.7/90

(11/1938-2/1939, New York N Yd), Manley was converted to fast transport with data as given in the table.

1942 - mid-1944, Manley: - 4 x 1 - 102/50, 4 x 1 - 12.7/90; + 3 x 1 - 76/50 Mk 20, 1 x 2 - 40/56 Mk 1.2, 5 x 1 - 20/70 Mk 4, presumably SA, SE radars

Naval service

Single ship formally participated in WWI operations, was Conner, based at Brest in June, 1918.