Old destroyers in early WWII

[EnigmaNZ]

Britain rented or bought some old USN destroyers early in WWII to make up its own shortfall, especially during the early days of convoy traffic to and from USA. Apparantly these destroyers were old USN 4-stack destroyers, and must have been totally obsolete.

Does anyone know what class of destroyers these belonged to? How many got sunk? What was the fate of these?

Yours sincerely,

Ivan Otterstrom

Threads a bit old but might as well update.

The Towns class were built at the end of WW1 and being built by a number of different yards, consisted of many subclasses due to differences in equipment etc. As built they were short ranged and some had a boiler and funnel removed to be replaced by extra fuel bunkers to extend their range. Even with this change they were still capable of 28 knotts. They were very narrow hulled and rolled a lot at sea. They also had a large turning circle. Their weapons fit was altered to be more compatible with their new task and with UK specs. A couple of sites below

Town class Destroyers - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net

TOWN Class

 

[Sea Toby]

Keep in mind the US entered WWI late, and the building program for these destroyers continued after the war ended. These destroyers were intended to be built quickly and cheaply by a number of shipyards. After WWI the US Navy had too many ships and downsized. So many of these four stacker destroyers were mothballed as they were mostly new ships at that time.

It wasn't until 1940, pre US involvement in WWII, a few days after Paris fell, that the US Congress passed the Carl Vinson sponsored the two ocean navy act. A nuclear propelled aircraft carrier is named for this Georgia congressman, Carl Vinson.

Two-Ocean Navy Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ASSAIL]

US Asiatic Fleet

There were 13 Clemson Class 4 stackers attached to the US Asiatic Fleet based in the Phillipines. DESRON 29 consisted of the following;
PAUL JONES, ALDEN, WHIPPLE, EDSALL, STEWART, BARKER, PARROT, BULMER, JOHN D FORD, POPE, PILLSBURY and the one we remember most in Darwin, lost during the first bombing rain 19th Feb, 1942, USS PEARY
Cheers

 

[Sea Toby]

There were 13 Clemson Class 4 stackers attached to the US Asiatic Fleet based in the Phillipines. DESRON 29 consisted of the following;
PAUL JONES, ALDEN, WHIPPLE, EDSALL, STEWART, BARKER, PARROT, BULMER, JOHN D FORD, POPE, PILLSBURY and the one we remember most in Darwin, lost during the first bombing rain 19th Feb, 1942, USS PEARY
Cheers

273 Flush decker four stackers destroyers were built. Only 50 were transferred to the Royal Navy. Many were brought back into service from mothballs with the US Navy as well, and not all of them were mothballed after WWI.

 

[Lostfleet]

I didn't know HMS Campbeltown was a US built ship,

if you are not familiar with St.Nazaire raid, I recommend you take a look at it. It is one of the most interesting special operations in naval history.

St Nazaire Raid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Sea Toby]

I didn't know HMS Campbeltown was a US built ship,

if you are not familiar with St.Nazaire raid, I recommend you take a look at it. It is one of the most interesting special operations in naval history.

St Nazaire Raid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I suggest watching this six part video BBC show...

[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgF0R4dhUqk"]Jeremy Clarkson's Greatest Raid of All Time 1/6 - YouTube[/nomedia]

 

[Lostfleet]

SeaToby thank you for the link,

Although I have read some articles about the raid, the documentary has done a great job visualizing the raid. What a collection of brave men!

Also it is good to see Clarkson talk about something different from cars,