Destroyers

Every naval fleet in the war had them... but which destroyer-class was deemed the best, based on speed, armament, offensive/defensive and anti-sub capabilities?
Japanese had some very potent classes of destroyers.
USA had my favorite, the Fletcher-class.
Candidates?
Any clear-cut winner?

Tim

 

IJN Shimakaze no question about that!
With 40 Kts top speed, 6x 5" guns and 15x 24" torpedo tubes she had serious power!



http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_di ... makaze.htm

 

Most experts (even non-US ones ) seem to consider the Fletcher class to be the best.
There were other destroyers which had a more powerful armament and top speed, but for all round equipment and weaponry, as well as sea-keeping abilities, the Fletcher class is very difficult to beat.

 

She seems to have her main guns mostly at the rear - why?

 

Strange question to ask as the Fletcher class (2x in front 3x rear) and many other DD's have that layout?!
I guess the aft guns don't have any problem with seaspray in bad weather/high speed

 

Shimakaze beats it :lol:

 

Shimakaze may not be even the best Japanese destroyer. Personally, I prefer Akizuki, the only full-size IJN destroyer with genuine DP guns.
Which will traverse faster, Shimakaze's 5in turrets or Washington's 16in turrets?

 

What about the Kreigsmarine?
Didn't the Germans also have some contenders?
I rarely read any comments concerning German destroyers. The pocket battleships seemed to overshadow everything else in the inventory.
Their S-100 class of E-boats are some of my favorites, but I'm a hopeless Elco-80ft PT-boat fan as well.

Tim

 

Nope. All pretenders.

 

Turret training was a real problem for the japanese 5"/50 gun...but still it was more powerfull than the US 5"

 

Probably for giving better cover fire during retreat

Shimakaze would have been good if the Japanese builded the other 16 of this class and deployed her for what she was made off. A ship, capable of launching a big amount off torpedo's during battle with the speed to escape the scene once the torpedo's were lose in order to avoid being detected.
Now, they only builded one and had her doing escorte service. Plus, she was laid down in 1941 but only finished in 1943.
Imagine a couple of these fighting at the naval battle's of Guadalcanal and firing a screen of torpedo's. The American fleet would have had some huge losses when that happend.
But then again, 40 knots is nothing against a 400 knots plane

Here's a link about the Jap destroyers. http://www.combinedfleet.com/lancers.htm

 

Compared to the US 5in/38, the Japanese gun fired a slightly smaller shell at a significantly higher MV, somewhere around 13% higher. I think it works out to a ~22% greater muzzle energy. The barrel life is only one seventh as long (that's not a typo), and RoF is less than half. Traverse and elevation rates greatly favor the US gun, of course.

 

The Shimikaze sounded pretty good.

 

the question was about destroyers not pt boats.
also why do you mention the pocket battelships?

 

I have only ever seen pics of destroyers that have either equally-placed armament or more at the front. But then I'm not much of a naval man, so my impression is probably wrong!

 

German Destroyer design in WW2 was not something to boast about.
They were powerfully armed, in fact if anything, they were too powerfully armed, it made them top heavy and they were poor sea keepers in any sea worse than a dead calm. Also their engines were rubbish, they spent most of their time having their engines fixed.

 

me262:
Point I was trying to make was that the German Kreigsmarine had other ships in their inventory--without the "star-quality" of the pocket battleships--that excelled in their mission-role, and I used the S-100 class of E-boats as an example.

I really am a bit surprised the German destroyers were considered less than ideal for their mission. I would have imagined them to compare more favorably.

Tim

 

I'm fond of the British V&W Class ships. Technically a WW1 design they managed to soldier on through WW2, giving good service for old ships.

 

I've always liked the RN "Tribal"-class DDs; COSSACK and her sisters. Interesting design, with emphasis on gun armament rather than torpedoes.

 

How did their 4.7" guns compare to the 5L38 of the US destroyers?