Bainbridge class destroyer
USS Bainbridge
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Bainbridge class |
| Builders: | Various |
| Operators: |
 United States Navy
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| Preceded by: | None |
| Succeeded by: | Truxtun class |
| Subclasses: |
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| Built: | 1899–1903 |
| In commission: | 1902–1919 |
| Completed: | 13 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Retired: | 12 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Torpedo Boat Destroyer |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Beam: | 23 ft 1 in (7.04 m) |
| Draft: | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) (as designed) |
| Capacity: | 213 long tons (216 t) coal (fuel) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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Officially designated as Torpedo Boat Destroyers (TBDs) when authorized by an Act of Congress on 4 May 1898 under the fiscal year 1899 program, the Bainbridge-class destroyers were the first destroyers so designated of the United States Navy, built from 1899 through 1903. These were the first 13 of 16 TBDs (3 were Truxtun-class TBDs) authorized by Congress in 1898 following the Spanish–American War, and were decommissioned and sold in 1919 following service in World War I. One ship was lost at sea: Chauncey, which collided with the British merchant ship SS Rose in 1917. After decommissioning, the 12 remaining ships were sold to Joseph G. Hitner of Philadelphia, except for Hopkins. Hopkins was sold to the Denton Shore Lumber Company in Tampa, Florida.
Some sources subdivide the Bainbridge class into additional classes.
Some references, including contemporary ones, describe four ocean-going torpedo boats launched in 1898-1899 as the first US destroyers based on their tonnage, which ranged from 235 to 340 long tons (239 to 345 t). These were Farragut, Stringham, Goldsborough, and Bailey. Stringham, the largest of these, was larger than some contemporary British destroyers. However, at 420 long tons (430 t) the Bainbridges were considerably larger and had a significantly greater gun armament than the four 6-pounders of the torpedo boats.
The Bainbridge class were produced on the recommendation of an 1898 war plans board formed to prosecute the Spanish–American War and chaired by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt. The poor sea-keeping qualities of existing torpedo boats (such as the 165-long-ton (168 t) Porter) and the existence of Spanish torpedo boat destroyers (such as the 370-long-ton (380 t) Furor) were cited as reasons for the US to build its own destroyers.
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Wikipedia