Cassin-class destroyer

USS Cassin in Coast Guard service
Class overview
Name:	Cassin class
Builders:	Various
Operators:	United States Navy  United States Coast Guard
Preceded by:	Paulding class
Succeeded by:	Aylwin class
Built:	1912-1915
In commission:	1913-33
Completed:	4
Retired:	4
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer
Displacement:	1,020 tons (normal) 1,139 tons (full load)
Length:	305 ft 3 in (93.04 m)
Beam:	30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)
Draft:	9 ft 3 in (2.82 m)
Installed power:	4 × Normand boilers (other types also used) 2 × direct-drive Parsons steam turbines 16,000 shp (12,000 kW) (design)
Propulsion:	2 × screws
Speed:	29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) (design)
Capacity:	312 tons oil (fuel)
Complement:	5 officers, 93 enlisted
Armament:	4 x 4 in (102 mm)/50 caliber guns 4 x twin 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes

Four destroyers in the United States Navy comprised the Cassin class. All served as convoy escorts during World War I. The Cassins were the first of six "second-generation" 1000-ton four-stack destroyer classes that were front-line ships of the Navy until the 1930s. They were known as "thousand tonners" for their normal displacement, while the previous classes were nicknamed "flivvers" for their small size, after the Model T Ford.

They were the first to carry the new 4-inch (102 mm)/50 caliber guns. The number of torpedo tubes was increased from the six carried by the Paulding class to eight. The additional armament significantly increased their tonnage to over 1,000 tons and decreased their speed to less than 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), despite an increase from 12,000 shaft horsepower (8,900 kW) to 16,000 shp (12,000 kW).

The Aylwin class was built concurrently, and those four ships are often considered to be Cassins. Both classes were ordered in fiscal year 1912.

The class performed convoy escort missions in the Atlantic in World War I. Hulls 43-45 served in the United States Coast Guard as part of the Rum Patrol in 1924-31. All were scrapped 1934-35 to comply with the London Naval Treaty.

The increase in normal displacement to over 1,000 tons was due to the desire to combine a heavy armament with a substantial cruising range. The US Navy at the time had only three modern scout cruisers of the Chester class, so the destroyers had to double as scouts. The engineering arrangement of two-shaft direct drive turbines was similar to some previous ships, but the poor performance of early cruising turbines caused a reversion to reciprocating engines for cruising. Hulls 43 and 44 had a triple expansion engine that could be clutched to one shaft for cruising; the other pair of ships had a similar arrangement on both shafts.