USSBuchanan in 1942
Class overview
Name	Gleaves class
Builders	Federal Shipbuilding, NJ (26) Boston Navy Yard, MA (10) Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding, WA (10) Bath Iron Works, ME (8) Charleston Navy Yard, SC (7) Philadelphia Navy Yard, PA (2) Norfolk Navy Yard, VA (2) Puget Sound Navy Yard, WA (1)
Operators	United States Navy  Hellenic Navy  Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force  Italian Navy  Republic of China Navy  Turkish Navy
Preceded by	Benson class
Succeeded by	Fletcher class
Subclasses	Bristol class Artigliere class Asakaze class
Built	1938–1943
In commission	1940–1956
Completed	66
Lost	14
Retired	52
General characteristics
Class & type	Destroyer
Displacement	1,630 tons standard, 2,395 tons full load
Length	348 ft 3 in (106.15 m)
Beam	36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
Draft	13 ft 2 in (4.01 m)
Installed power	4Babcock & Wilcoxboilers, 2Westinghousegearedsteam turbines; 50000 shp (37 MW)
Propulsion	2 shafts
Speed	37.4 knots (69 km/h) 43 mph
Range	6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	16 officers, 260 enlisted
Sensors & processing systems	Mk37 GFCS 1 ×SC radar
Armament	As designed:   5 ×5 in (127 mm)DP guns,   6 ×0.50 in. (12.7 mm) guns,   10 ×21 inch (533 mm)torpedo tubes (2 × 5), 10torpedoes   2 ×Depth charge tracks DD-453 onward:   4 ×5 in (127 mm)DP guns,   4 ×40 mm Bofors guns (2 × 2),   7 ×20 mm Oerlikon guns,   5 × 21 in (533 mm)torpedo tubes (1 × 5),   4-6 ×K-gun depth charge throwers,   2 ×Depth charge tracks
Notes	Ship data sources: Destroyers.org,[1] Friedman, pp. 95–109, 470–471[2]

TheGleaves-class destroyers were a class of 66destroyers of theUnited States Navy built 1938–42, designed byGibbs & Cox.^[3][4] The first ship of the class wasUSS Gleaves. They were the destroyer type that was in production for the US Navy when the United States enteredWorld War II.

TheGleaves class were initially specified as part of a 24-shipBenson class authorized infiscal years 1938–40; however,Bethlehem Shipbuilding requested that the six ships designed by them use less complex machinery. Initially,Gleaves andNiblack, although designed by Gibbs & Cox and built byBath Iron Works, were to follow theBenson design as modified by Bethlehem. This temporarily madeLivermore the lead ship with more complex machinery, so the class was initially called theLivermore class, and this name persisted throughWorld War II. However, it soon proved possible forGleaves andNiblack to be built to theLivermore design.^[2] SinceGleaves was completed beforeLivermore and had a lower hull number, the class is more correctly theGleaves class. Eighteen of these were commissioned in 1940–41.^[5] The remaining 48 "repeatGleaveses" were authorized in 1940–42. These plus the 24^[6] "repeatBensons" were also known at the time as theBristol class, afterUSS Bristol. During World War II theBensons were usually combined with theLivermores (more correctly theGleaves class) as theBenson-Livermore class; this persisted in references until at least the 1960s.^[7] The classes are now called theBenson-Gleaves class.^[6] In some references both classes are combined and called theBenson class.^[2] TheBenson- andGleaves-class destroyers were the backbone of the pre-warNeutrality Patrols and participated in every major naval campaign of the war.

See:Benson-class destroyer#Related classes

TheGleaves class was designed as an improved version of theSims class with two stacks and a new "echeloned" machinery arrangement that featured alternating boiler and engine rooms, designed to give the ships a better chance at surviving torpedo damage. Loss of one compartment, or even two adjacent compartments, would no longer disable the entire propulsion system. This design was credited with the survival ofUSS Kearny after she was torpedoed by theU-568 nearIceland in October 1941, before the US entered the war. TheBenson-Gleaves class also introduced quintupletorpedo tube mounts. Their scantlings, or framing dimensions, were increased to carry the weight of the new machinery. This increased the ships' displacement by about seventy tons, to 1630 tonsstandard displacement.^[2][8] Twenty ships (DD-493–497, 618–628, and 645–648) had square-faced bridges in an attempt to speed production.^[5]

TheGleaves class were all completed with 600 psi (4,100 kPa) steam (references vary)superheated to 850 °F (454 °C), double-reduction gearing, and cruising turbines.^[5] The mainsteam turbines were designed and built byWestinghouse.^[2][8][9]

The class was completed with four or five 5-inch (127 mm)dual purpose guns (anti-surface andanti-aircraft (AA)), controlled by aMark 37 Gun Fire Control System as in the previousSims class. The introduction of two centerline quintuple torpedo tube mounts in theBenson-Gleaves class was a significant improvement and was continued in subsequentWorld War II classes. This allowed a broadside of ten tubes with savings in space and weight compared to previous classes, which had twelve or sixteen tubes and an eight-tube broadside.^[2] However, most of theGleaves class spent most of the war with only five torpedo tubes equipped in favor of greater lightanti-aircraft armament. This varied considerably in different ships as the war went on; for example, the specified pair of twin 40 mm (1.6 in) guns were not widely available until mid-1942 and a quadruple1.1 in (28 mm) gun mount and a 20 mm (0.79 in) gun were temporarily substituted.^[8] In 1945 sixteen ships (DD-423, 424, 429–432, 435, 437–440, 443, 497, 623, 624, and 628) were modified for maximum light AA armament as an anti-kamikaze measure, with four 5-inch guns, no torpedo tubes, twelve 40 mm guns in two quad and two twin mounts and four 20 mm guns in two twin mountings.^[10][5] Photographs indicate that, as with most pre-1942 destroyers, the initialanti-submarine armament of twodepth charge tracks was augmented with four or sixK-gun depth charge throwers in 1941–42 on most ships.^[11] In 1943 twelve ships (DD-493, 609, 620, 622, 623, 635, 637–639, and 646–648) were temporarily equipped with threeMousetrap ASW rocket launchers, but this was unsuccessful and the only such installation on post-1930 US destroyers. They were removed beginning in March 1944.^[8][12]

Chief petty officers had quarters in the forecastle. All other enlisted sailors had a bunk in large open livingcompartments astern of the engineering spaces. Beneath each tier of bunks were individual lockers with a wooden grate floor. As seawater entered the compartment during rough weather, the wooden grate was intended to lift the locker contents above the deck and allow the seawater to drain out as it sloshed over the deck when the ship rolled. No laundry was included in the original design, but a single washing machine was later installed in a compartment the size of a closet. Clothing could be washed and spun damp to be hung to dry wherever space allowed.^[13]

Twenty-fourGleaves-class ships were converted todestroyer minesweepers (DMS-19 through DMS-42) in 1944 and 1945.^[8][14] Twelve Atlantic Fleet ships (DD-454–458, 461, 462, 464, 621, 625, 636, and 637) were converted in 1944, with the rest in the Pacific in 1945 (DD-489, 490, 493–496, 618, 627, and 632–635). Magnetic and acousticminesweeping gear was fitted, with armament reduced to three 5 in guns, no torpedo tubes, two K-guns, four 40 mm guns in two twin mounts, and seven 20 mm guns on the Atlantic ships. The Pacific ships andHobson had increased light AA armament, with eight 40 mm guns in two quad mounts and six 20 mm guns in two twin and two single mounts. Twelve DMS conversions were the onlyBenson-Gleaves-class ships retained in service postwar. However, they were judged ineffective in theKorean War due to requiring a large crew compared with purpose-builtminesweepers, and were decommissioned in 1954–56.^[14]

Twenty-one were in commission when theJapaneseattacked Pearl Harbor. A total of sixty-six were built, of which eleven were lost to enemy action during World War II:Gwin,Meredith,Monssen,Bristol,Emmons,Aaron Ward,Duncan,Beatty,Glennon,Corry, andMaddox. Six of these were in thePacific, two were offNormandy, and three were in theMediterranean.Ingraham was lost in a collision with anoiler in 1942, andTurner was lost to an internal explosion in 1944.

Most were decommissioned and placed in theReserve Fleet just following World War II. Twelve DMS conversions remained in commission into the 1950s, the last withdrawn from service in 1956.^[5]Hobson was sunk in a collision with theaircraft carrierWasp in 1952.Baldwin grounded while under tow and wasscuttled in 1961 while out of commission, thus is not counted as a loss.

Eleven ships of the class were transferred to foreign navies 1949–1959; two to Greece, four to Turkey, one to Italy, two to Taiwan, and two to Japan.^[15] On 19 October 1954Ellyson andMacomb were transferred to theJapanese Maritime Self-Defense Force where they served as JDSAsakaze and JDSHatakaze, the latter was further transferred to Taiwan in 1970 asHsien Yang to replace the ex-Rodman of the same name.^[16]

Modernization was considered in the 1950s but not implemented except on the transferred ships.^[17] Those ships not transferred to other countries were mostly sold for scrap in the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[5]

The 1954 movieThe Caine Mutiny was filmed onUSS Doyle and possiblyUSS Thompson. Inthe 1951 novel,Caine is aWickes orClemson-classdestroyer minesweeper.

The destroyer shown in the opening and closing scenes of the movie musicalOn the Town isUSS Nicholson.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toGleaves class destroyers.

• List of destroyers of the United States Navy
• List of destroyer classes of the United States Navy
• List of destroyer-minesweepers
• List of ship classes of the Second World War

• Destroyerhistory.org: Benson/Gleaves ship list
• Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991).Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants.Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
• Friedman, Norman (2004).US Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History (Revised ed.). Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-55750-442-3.
• Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger (1980).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 0-83170-303-2.
• Gardiner, Robert; Chumbley, Stephen (1995).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. London: Conway Maritime Press.ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
• Silverstone, Paul H. (1965).U.S. Warships of World War II. London: Ian Allan Ltd.ISBN 0-7110-0157-X.
•  This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

• Benson- andGleaves-class destroyers atDestroyer History Foundation
• Gleaves-class destroyers atDestroyer History Foundation
• Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org –Gleaves class articleArchived 2015-11-24 at theWayback Machine
• Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org –Gleaves class specsArchived 2015-11-17 at theWayback Machine
• USSGleaves (DD-423) and USSNiblack (DD-424) General Information Book with as-built data atDestroyer History Foundation
• Tin Can Sailors @ destroyers.org –Gleaves class destroyerArchived 2015-11-17 at theWayback Machine
• NavSource Destroyer Photo Index Page

• Destroyer classes
• Gleaves-class destroyers
• World War II destroyers of the United States
• Cold War destroyers of the United States

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