Bainbridge-class destroyer

USS Bainbridge (DD-1)
Class overview
Name:	Bainbridge class destroyer
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	None
Succeeded by:	Truxtun class destroyer
Built:	1899–1901
In commission:	1902–1919
Completed:	13
Lost:	1
Retired:	12
Preserved:	0
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	420 long tons (427 t) normal 592 long tons (601 t) full load
Length:	250 ft (76 m)
Beam:	23 ft 1 in (7 m)
Draft:	6 ft 6 in (2 m)
Propulsion:	4 coal-fired boilers 2 triple-expansion engines 8,000 hp (5,966 kW)
Speed:	28.4 knots (52.6 km/h; 32.7 mph)
Complement:	3 officers 72 enlisted men
Armament:	Two 3 inch/50 caliber (76 mm) guns Five 6 pounder (57 mm) guns Two 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes

Officially designated as Torpedo Boat Destroyers (TBDs) when authorized by Congress in 1898,^[1] the Bainbridge-class destroyers were the first destroyers of the United States Navy, built from 1899 through 1903.

The 13 Bainbridge TBDs of the 16 torpedo boat destroyers (3 were Truxtun-class TBDs) authorized by Congress in 1898 were ordered following the Spanish–American War and were decommissioned in 1920. One ship was lost at sea: the Chauncey, which collided with the British merchantman S.S. Rose in 1917.

After decommissioning following World War I, the 12 remaining ships were sold to Joseph G. Hitner of Philadelphia, except for the Hopkins. Hopkins was sold to the Denton Shore Lumber Company in Tampa, Florida.

Subdividing the Bainbridge class

Some sources break the Bainbridge class into other classes.^[2][3]

• Hopkins and Hull were oil-fired rather than coal-fired, had a turtledeck forward, and may be considered to be Hopkins-class.
• Lawrence and Macdonough had two additional 6-pounder guns, turtledeck forward, carried their funnels in only one group of four and may be considered to be Lawrence-class.
• Paul Jones, Perry and Preble carried one twin torpedo tube instead of two singles and may be considered to be Paul Jones-class.
• Stewart was equipped with Seabury boilers and was the fastest of the 400-tonners (she was also the smallest).

Design

The US Navy's first torpedo boat destroyers were produced on the recommendation of an 1898 war plans board formed to prosecute the Spanish–American War and chaired by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt. The poor sea-keeping qualities of existing torpedo boats (such as the 165-ton USS Porter (TB-6)) and the existence of Spanish torpedo boat destroyers (such as the 370-ton Furor) were cited as reasons for the US to build its own destroyers.^[4] Due to construction difficulties the Bainbridges were completed 1901–02, thus too late for the Spanish–American War.^[5] However, the destroyer type was instituted in the US Navy, as it had been in the British Royal Navy around 1895 with the A-class destroyer (1913). No further torpedo boats were constructed for the US Navy until the outbreak of World War II in Europe, and by then they had no design relationship to destroyers (see PT boats). It should be noted that the Imperial German Navy of 1898–1918 used the term "torpedo boat" for anything up to a large destroyer in size.

At 420 tons normal displacement, the Bainbridges were two and a half times as big as the previous torpedo boats. The extra displacement was used for a greatly increased gun armament and a sufficient engineering plant to rival the torpedo boats in speed (28 knots vs. 29 knots). The torpedo armament was reduced from three to two 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes; although the torpedo boat's mission was being transferred to the destroyer, apparently the gun armament was more important to the designers.^[6] The best available technologies of coal-fired boilers and triple-expansion engines were used for propulsion, although the oil-fired boilers of Hopkins and Hull gave a hint of the future, and steam turbines would be adopted on the next generation of US destroyers launched in 1908 and after. The need for faster destroyers was to be a significant driver of naval propulsion technology throughout the type's future development.

The gun armament of two 3 inch/50 caliber (76 mm) guns and five 6 pounder (57 mm) guns was a great increase over the four 1 pounder (37 mm) automatic guns of the torpedo boat Porter.^[7][8] It reflected a desire to quickly disable torpedo boats before they could get within range of friendly battleships. Future destroyer classes included significant increases in armament.

At least some of the class were equipped with one or two depth charge racks during World War I.^[9]

An interesting note on destroyers is that they have continuously increased in size since their inception. The Bainbridge was under 600 tons full load; some Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in service in 2013 displace 10,800 tons full load.

Service

A few Bainbridges were deployed to the Philippines 1904-1917. During the US participation in World War I, these were redeployed to the Mediterranean as convoy escorts. Others of the class served in the Atlantic, on the US East Coast, or guarded the Panama Canal. Chauncey collided with the British merchantman S.S. Rose in 1917 and was lost. Following the Armistice, the remainder were sold for scrapping or merchant conversion in 1919.

Ships in class

The thirteen ships of the Bainbridge class were:^[10][11][12]

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 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press, 1997. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
• Simpson, Richard V. Building The Mosquito Fleet, The US Navy's First Torpedo Boats. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston South Carolina, USA, 2001. ISBN 0-7385-0508-0.
• Silverstone, Paul H., U.S. Warships of World War I (Ian Allan, 1970), ISBN 0-71100-095-6.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bainbridge class destroyers.

• Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org - Bainbridge class destroyer
• Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org - Hopkins class destroyer
• Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org - Lawrence class destroyer
• Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org - Destroyer classes
• DestroyerHistory.org Bainbridge class destroyer
• DestroyerHistory.org Hopkins class destroyer
• DestroyerHistory.org Lawrence class destroyer
• DestroyerHistory.org First US destroyers
• NavSource Destroyer Photo Index Page
• DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com Pre-WWII US Torpedoes
• DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com 3"/50 Mks 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8
• DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com USN 6 pdr Mks 1 through 13
• US Navy Torpedo History, part 2