Was there only one class of warships known as four stackers during WWII ? What were they anyway ? Escort vessels ? I seem to recall that quite a few of these ( WWI era ? ) ships were supplied through lend-lease to Britain as well as to some of the minor Allies.
The term "four-stacker" is generally used to refer to the Clemson, Wickes, and Caldwell class destroyers, which were also known as the "flushdeckers." They were not the only ships with four stacks any more than they were the only ships with a flush deck, but both features were distinctive. A total of 280 of these ships were built c1917-21, but many left service between the wars. During WWII, you could have found flushdeckers serving with crews from America, Britain, Canada, Norway, the Soviet Union, and Japan.
Yes, and they gave good service throughout the war in a wide variety of roles. Some of them, for example, served as so-called "destroyer-transports" during the Guadalcanal campaign, bringing in vitally needed supplies to the American forces there when the Navy could not (or would not...) risk any other ships there.
Four Stackers The four-stackers were part of the Roosevelt/Churchill Leand-Lease programme which enabled the U.S. to supply Britain with arms and supplies, whilst still remaining notionally neutral. Something like 50 of these ex-USN destroyers were transferred, and I believe that most were used for escort duty. If memory serves me correctly (and it's not just "urban myth", when some arrived, they were so far past there prime that they could only be canabilised for spares - I think was was only a very few though. (Poor crews delivering them!!!) One od the best known of these "hand-me-downs" has to be the ex-USS Buchanan, which served as HMS Campbeltown. She was used as a "blockship" in a famous raid on the French port of St. Nazaire, where she was used to destroy the gates to the "Normandie" dry dock there to prevent the Gremans using it for the Tirpitz, should they decide to make a sortie into the Atlantic, and possibly join up with Sharnhorst and Gneisenau. (I think that this was the only dock in western France then available for a ship the size of the Tirpitz). Blackship is a bit mis-leading, she was in fact packed with explosives in her bows, and the morning after to raid, when there were Germans onboard inspecting her, and commenting on how on earth did the British expect to do any real damage to a huge dock with such a small ship, up she went with an almighty bang, and put the dock out of commision for a very long time.
There was apparently a British officer being interrogated just before Cambelltown went off. The Germans were more or less asking this guy what kind of mental defectives the British were if they thought that piddly little destroyer was going to damage the docks. Just then the destroyer exploded and the British officer was, so we're mental defectives are we? The dock didn't return to service for about ten years.
If i recall correctly some of them made a daring night torpedo run in Battle of Java sea (not too sucesfull becouse of defective torpedoes). Another more famous is USS Ward.
The Norwegian ships were all British transfers, and they kept their British names. At least two ships went from American to Commonwealth to Norwegian to Soviet command: Yarnall > Lincoln > Druzhnyi Thomas > St. Albans > Dostoinyi As far as I know, the only transferred unit that never served actively with the RN/RCN was Cameron (ex-Welles) which was badly damaged by bombs while still fitting out. By the way, two of the fifty transferred "four-stackers" in fact had only three stacks at the time.
The torpedoes on the flushdeckers were not defective. Their only problem was age, which meant their stats were rather humble. They delivered a successful torpedo attack at Balikpapan. http://www.navweaps.com/index_oob/OOB_W ... kpapan.htm
Yes, America's first naval victory in the Pacific War. And it didn't even slow the Japanese down... :-?
