Benson-class destroyer

USS Meade on 20 June 1942
Class overview
Name	Benson class
Builders	Bethlehem Fore River, MA Staten Island, NY San Pedro, CA San Francisco, CA Boston Navy Yard, MA Charleston Navy Yard, SC Puget Sound Navy Yard, WA
Operators	United States Navy  Italian Navy  Republic of China Navy
Preceded by	Sims class
Succeeded by	Gleaves class
Subclasses	Bristol class[1] Artigliere class
Built	1938–43
In commission	1940–51
Completed	30
Lost	4 (1 returned to service)
Retired	27
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer
Displacement	1620 tons standard, 2474 tons full load
Length	341 ft (103.9 m) waterline, 348 ft 2 in (106.12 m) overall
Beam	36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
Draft	11 ft 9 in (3.58 m) (normal),   17 ft 9 in (5.41 m) (full load)
Installed power	4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 Bethlehem Steel geared steam turbines; 50,000 shp (37,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts
Speed	37.5 knots (69.5 km/h) 33 knots (61.1 km/h) full load
Range	6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	208 (276 wartime)
Sensors and processing systems	Mk37 GFCS 1 × SC radar
Armament	As designed:   5 × 5 in (127 mm) DP guns,   6 × 0.50 in. (12.7 mm) guns,   10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (2 × 5), 10 torpedoes   2 × depth charge tracks DD-459 onward:   4 × 5 in (127 mm) DP guns,   4 × 40 mm Bofors guns (2 × 2),   7 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons,   5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (1 × 5),   4–6 × K-gun depth charge throwers,   2 × depth charge tracks
Notes	Ship data sources: Destroyers.org,[2] Friedman, pp. 95–104, 470–471[3]

The Benson class was a class of destroyers of the U.S. Navy built 1939–1943. The thirty 1,620-ton Benson-class destroyers were built in two groups. The first six were authorized in fiscal year 1938 (FY38) and laid down at Bethlehem Steel, Quincy, Massachusetts, and three naval shipyards.^[1] The remaining 24 "repeat Bensons" were authorized in 1940–42 and built at four Bethlehem Steel yards. They were laid down after the first group was commissioned. These plus the "repeat Livermores" (also known as "repeat Gleaveses") were also known at the time as the Bristol class. During World War II the Bensons were usually combined with the Livermores (more correctly the Gleaves class) as the Benson-Livermore class; this persisted in references until at least the 1960s. In some references both classes are combined and called the Benson class. The Benson- and Gleaves-class destroyers were the backbone of the pre-war Neutrality Patrols and brought the action to the enemy by participating in every major campaign of the war.