US Destroyers 1942-45: Wartime Classes

✍ Scribed by Dave McComb

• Publisher: Osprey Publishing Ltd
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 52
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Few if any 20th century warships were more justly acclaimed than the destroyers of the U.S. Navy’s Fletcher class. Admired as they were for their advanced and rakish design, it was their record as workhorses of the Pacific War that placed them among the most battle-tested and successful fighting ships of all time. This title describes the Fletchers and their Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class derivatives, their machinery, armament, and construction, with a listing of all 343 ships by hull number and builder. It features an operational history of the 287 ships commissioned during World War II, which traces the evolution of night surface action tactics in the Solomon Islands and the parallel development of the Combat Information Center; the drive across the Pacific and liberation of the Philippines with tables showing the rapid introduction of new squadrons; and the radar pickets’ climactic stand against kamikaze aircraft at Okinawa. With summaries of losses and decorations and specially commissioned artwork, this is a definitive book on the wartime US destroyer classes. DEPOSITили

✦ Table of Contents

COVER......Page 1
CONTENTS......Page 5
INTRODUCTION......Page 6
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT......Page 7
The Fletcher Class......Page 8
The Allen M. Sumner Class......Page 14
The Gearing Class......Page 15
Guadalcanal......Page 16
New Georgia......Page 21
Bougainville......Page 25
The Central Pacific......Page 28
The Atlantic......Page 32
The Philippines......Page 33
Iwo Jima and Okinawa......Page 37
Japan......Page 44
LOOKING BACK......Page 45
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 46
Dimensions and Design Specifications......Page 48
Allen M. Sumner and Gearing Class Armament Variations......Page 49
INDEX......Page 50
COVER......Page 52