Gleaves-class destroyer

USS Buchanan in 1942
Class overview
Name	Gleaves class
Builders	Federal Shipbuilding, NJ (26) Boston Navy Yard, MA (10) Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding, WA (10) Bath Iron Works, ME (8) Charleston Navy Yard, SC (7) Philadelphia Navy Yard, PA (2) Norfolk Navy Yard, VA (2) Puget Sound Navy Yard, WA (1)
Operators	United States Navy  Hellenic Navy  Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force  Italian Navy  Republic of China Navy  Turkish Navy
Preceded by	Benson class
Succeeded by	Fletcher class
Subclasses	Bristol class Artigliere class Asakaze class
Built	1938–1943
In commission	1940–1956
Completed	66
Lost	14
Retired	52
General characteristics
Class and type	Destroyer
Displacement	1,630 tons standard, 2,395 tons full load
Length	348 ft 3 in (106.15 m)
Beam	36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
Draft	13 ft 2 in (4.01 m)
Installed power	4 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 Westinghouse geared steam turbines; 50000 shp (37 MW)
Propulsion	2 shafts
Speed	37.4 knots (69 km/h) 43 mph
Range	6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	16 officers, 260 enlisted
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-453 onward:   4 × 5 in (127 mm) DP guns,   4 × 40 mm Bofors guns (2 × 2),   7 × 20 mm Oerlikon guns,   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,[1] Friedman, pp. 95–109, 470–471[2]

The Gleaves-class destroyers were a class of 66 destroyers of the United States Navy built 1938–42, designed by Gibbs & Cox.^[3][4] The first ship of the class was USS Gleaves. They were the destroyer type that was in production for the US Navy when the United States entered World War II.

The Gleaves class were initially specified as part of a 24-ship Benson class authorized in fiscal years 1938–40; however, Bethlehem Shipbuilding requested that the six ships designed by them use less complex machinery. Initially, Gleaves and Niblack, although designed by Gibbs & Cox and built by Bath Iron Works, were to follow the Benson design as modified by Bethlehem. This temporarily made Livermore the lead ship with more complex machinery, so the class was initially called the Livermore class, and this name persisted through World War II. However, it soon proved possible for Gleaves and Niblack to be built to the Livermore design.^[2] Since Gleaves was completed before Livermore and had a lower hull number, the class is more correctly the Gleaves class. Eighteen of these were commissioned in 1940–41.^[5] The remaining 48 “repeat Gleaveses” were authorized in 1940–42. These plus the 24 ^[6] "repeat Bensons" were also known at the time as the Bristol class, after USS Bristol. 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.^[7] The classes are now called the Benson-Gleaves class.^[6] In some references both classes are combined and called the Benson class.^[2] The Benson- and Gleaves-class destroyers were the backbone of the pre-war Neutrality Patrols and participated in every major naval campaign of the war.