Sims-class destroyer

USS Sims (DD-409), lead ship of the class.
Class overview
Name:	Sims class destroyer
Builders:	Bath Iron Works Federal Shipbuilding Newport News Shipbuilding Boston Navy Yard Norfolk Naval Shipyard Charleston Navy Yard Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Benham-class destroyer
Succeeded by:	Benson-class destroyer
Built:	1937–1940
In commission:	1939–1946
Completed:	12
Lost:	5
Retired:	7
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	1,570 tons (standard) 2,465 tons (full load)
Length:	348 ft 4 in
Beam:	36 ft 0 in
Draft:	13 ft 4 in
Propulsion:	3 Boilers 2 Westinghouse Turbines (50,000 horsepower)
Speed:	37.7 knots
Complement:	16 Officers 235 Enlisted
Armament:	5 (later 4) × 5 in/38 cal guns 2 × 40 mm Bofors gun 12 (later 8) × 21 inch torpedo tubes
Notes:	fuel capacity: 2,929 barrels

The Sims-class consisted of 12 destroyers in the United States Navy, built in seven various shipyards, and commissioned in 1939 and 1940. It was the last United States destroyer class completed prior to World War II. All Sims-class ships saw action in World War II, and seven survived the war. No ship of this class saw service after 1946.

Of the five ships lost, four were at the hands of the Japanese and one at the hands of the Germans. Three of the seven survivors were undergoing overhauls that were left unfinished at war’s end and ultimately scrapped. The remaining four seaworthy ships were used as targets during the 1946 Operation Crossroads atomic tests at Bikini Atoll. One was sunk by the first blast, while the other three were sunk as targets two years later after serving as experimental platforms.

The Sims class ships were the sixth and final class of the "third-generation" 1500-ton pre-war destroyers that modernized the United States navy in the 1930s. They were the last built with a single engine room, changed with the Benson-class destroyers for increased survivability. However they were also the first increased in hull length, and the precursor for the numerous larger, faster destroyer classes that marked war-time construction.

The Sims class introduced installation of Mark 37 Gun Fire Control System.^[1] Distinguished by a turret mounted gun director, the advanced system controlled by a Ford Mark 1 Fire Control Computer mounted deep in the hull enabled automatic aiming of guns against surface or air targets with first-hit solutions in near real-time. The system would evolve and be used extensively to control most 5 inch guns on destroyers and larger ships, and remained in service on US ships until the 1970s.

Early units completed with 12 torpedo tubes (3x4) while later ships completed with 8 (2x4) on the centerline. All were converted to 8-tube configuration before World War II began.

USS Russell (DD-414) in 1943.

Ships in class

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sims class destroyers.

• Gridley class destroyer

References

External links

• Sims-class destroyers at Destroyer History Foundation
• Short information about the class
• Tin Can Sailors @ destroyers.org - Sims class destroyer