Paulding-class destroyer

USS Paulding (DD-22)
Class overview
Name:	Paulding-class destroyer
Operators:	United States Navy  United States Coast Guard
Preceded by:	Smith-class destroyer
Succeeded by:	Cassin-class destroyer
Completed:	21
Retired:	21
Preserved:	0
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	742 tons (normal) 887 tons (full load)
Length:	293 ft 0 in overall
Beam:	26 ft 3 in
Draft:	8 ft 0 in
Propulsion:	4 oil-fired Normand boilers 3 Parsons steam turbines 3 shafts 12,000 shaft horsepower
Speed:	29.5 knots
Capacity:	236 tons oil (fuel)
Complement:	4 Officers 82 Enlisted
Armament:	Five 3 inch/50 caliber (76 mm) guns Six 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes (3 x 2)

The Paulding-class destroyers were a modification of the Smith-class with the torpedo tubes increased from three to six via twin mounts. This was an easy upgrade, as the new design twin mounts actually weighed less than the older single mounts.^[1] The 21 Pauldings doubled the number of destroyers in the US Navy. The newer class burned oil rather than coal and had 12,000 shaft horsepower (shp) instead of 10,000 shp, lightening the ships and making them about a knot faster.

Generally 21 ships, hull numbers 22 through 42, are considered Pauldings. However, some rate the hull numbers 32 through 42 as the Monaghan class. Others break hulls 24-28, 30, 31, 33 and 36 as Roe class, with hulls 32, 35, and 38-42 as Monaghan class. Curiously, Jane′s Fighting Ships of World War I refers to hulls 22-42 as the 21 [ships of the] Drayton-class, going on to say "Unofficially known as ′Flivver Type′"; the book includes Paulding in the class listing, but not as the class leader.^[2]

The Paulding class derived its name from the lead ship of the series, USS Paulding (DD-22), named after Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding (1797-1878). Like the Smiths, they were nicknamed flivvers after the small and shaky Model T Ford once the larger "thousand tonner" destroyers entered service. The ships were all commissioned between 1910 and 1912, and were active throughout World War I, primarily as convoy escorts in the Atlantic. At least some of the class were equipped with one or two depth charge racks for this mission.^[3]

These ships served in the United States Navy; twelve were transferred to the United States Coast Guard 1924-30 for the Rum Patrol; and all were scrapped 1934-35 to comply with the London Naval Treaty.^[4]

Engineering

There was some variation in engineering among the ships of this class. The most visible was that hulls 24-27, 30-32, 34, 36, 37, 39, and 40 had three stacks instead of four, with the middle stack being larger as two boiler uptakes were trunked together in it.^[5] Although most ships' turbines were arranged as in the Smith-class, hulls 26-27, 30-31, and 34 had two turbines on two shafts (Zoelly or Curtis), with cruising stages included in the turbine casings.^[6] From DD-32 on, Thornycroft boilers instead of Normand were equipped.^[7]

Ships in class

The 21 ships of the Paulding class were:^[8]

Gallery

• 

  Henley camouflaged

• 

  Perkins with three stack design

• 

  Trippe with four stacks

See also

Media related to Paulding class destroyers at Wikimedia Commons

References

• Friedman, Norman "US Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History (Revised Edition)", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis:2004, ISBN 1-55750-442-3.
• Gardiner, Robert, Conway's all the world's fighting ships 1906-1921 Conway Maritime Press, 1985. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. London: Random House Group, Ltd. 2001. p. 147. ISBN 1-85170-378-0. 
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

• Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org - Paulding class destroyer
• DestroyerHistory.org Paulding class destroyer
• DestroyerHistory.org Flivver type destroyers
• DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com 3"/50 Mks 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8
• DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com Pre-WWII US Torpedoes
• US Navy Torpedo History, part 2