|
The ''Caldwell'' class of destroyers served in the United States Navy near the end of World War I. Four served as convoy escorts in the Atlantic; the other two were completed too late for wartime service. Two were deleted during the 1930s, but four survived to serve throughout World War II, three of these in service with the Royal Navy under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. ==Design and Construction== The six ''Caldwell''-class torpedo boat destroyers were authorised by Congress under the Act of 3 March 1915, "to have a speed of not less than thirty knots per hour () and to cost, exclusive of armor and armament, not to exceed $925,000.00 each ...''Provided'', that three of said torpedo-boats herein authorised shall be built on the Pacific Coast." Built from 1916 to 1918, the six ships of the ''Caldwell'' class were the first of 279 ordered (6 of which were cancelled) to a flush-decked design to remove the forecastle break weakness of the preceding and other "thousand tonners". They were effectively prototypes of the mass production and vessels which followed them, although somewhat slower ( vs. ) and differing in some details. The forward sheer of the ''Caldwell'' class was improved to keep "A" mount from being constantly washed out; however, this was unsuccessful.〔Gardiner, p. 123〕 The ''Caldwell''s had a cutaway stern rather than the cruiser stern of the later ships, and thus had a tighter turning radius than their successors.〔Friedman, p. 36〕〔 The armament of the ''Sampson''s was retained, but the broadside guns were relocated to "bandstands" aft of the bridge. There were differences in appearance; ''Caldwell'', ''Craven'' and ''Manley'' were built with four "stacks" (funnels), while ''Gwin'', ''Conner'' and ''Stockton'' had only three. The middle stack of the three-stack ships was wider due to combining two boiler uptakes. Once the mass-production destroyers made the design prevalent, the ''Caldwell''s and their successors became known as "flush-deck" or "four-stack" destroyers.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=DestroyerHistory.org )〕 was converted to a prototype high-speed destroyer transport (APD) in 1939, with her forward stacks and boilers removed to give her the capacity to lift 200 Marines and four Higgins assault boats (LCP(L), LCP(R), or LCVP). She saw action at Guadalcanal, Kwajalein, Saipan, and the Philippines. Three entered Royal Navy service in 1940 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement as part of the . , serving as HMS ''Leeds'', provided cover at Gold Beach on 6 June 1944; her sisters served as convoy escorts. All three survived the war, two being sunk as targets and one scrapped, postwar. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Caldwell-class destroyer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|