The Forgotten War: America in Korea

1950-1953 Hitler's U-boat War: The Hunted, 1942-1945FICTIONThe Board Room

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APPENDIX 1.

(Note: Ships in the appendices are not italicized or listed in the index.)

APPENDIX 2.

APPENDIX 3.

APPENDIX 4.

APPENDIX 5.

APPENDIX 6.

APPENDIX 7.

APPENDIX 8.

APPENDIX 9.

THE BRITISH DESTROYER SITUATION.

19391941 The British built hundreds of destroyers in World War I, but most of them were unfit or gone by the mid-1920s. In 1927, the Admiralty commenced a "modern" destroyer-building program. For that year and through 1935, the Admiralty ordered nine destroyers a year except in 1929 (the year of the economic crash), when it ordered only five. These ships were 312 feet in length and displaced about 1,400 tons. Except as noted in parentheses, the names of the ships began with the letter assigned to the annual order (e.g., Acasta in the "A" order of 1927).

In the mid-1930s when Germany, Italy, and Japan laid down larger, heavier-gunned fleet destroyers, the Admiralty followed suit with the Tribal class (Afridi, Cossack, etc.). These ships, mounting eight 4.7" guns in four turrets, were 355 feet in length and displaced about 1,900 tons. The Admiralty ordered sixteen of this type for delivery by 1937.

Meanwhile, the annual destroyer orders continued. The Admiralty reduced the number of ships purchased from nine to eight, but they were larger than their predecessors: 339 feet in length, displacing about 1,700 tons. These were the last "modern" destroyers to enter service before the war.

As can be seen from the foregoing lists, by the time World War II commenced, the Admiralty had built a grand total of 109 "modern" destroyers. However, the British transferred the five ships of the 1929 class to the embryonic Canadian Navy in 1937-393, leaving the Royal Navy a force of 104 "modern" destroyers. The Admiralty converted thirteen of these (9 Es, 4 Is) to fast minelayers, leaving 91 for regular service.

Upon the outbreak of war, two further annual orders were under construction, as well as eight vessels intended originally for Brazil and Turkey that were retained, six with the H class and two with the I class.

In addition to the fleet of "modern" destroyers, the Royal Navy had in commission about sixty smaller World War I-vintage destroyers. Thus, when World War II began, the Royal Navy had a total destroyer force of about 165 vessels.4 When Winston Churchill assumed the post of First Lord of the Admiralty in September 1939, he was immensely displeased with the destroyer situation in the Royal Navy. He declared that British destroyers had become too big, too complex, and too expensive, and took too long to build. For urgently needed convoy escort, he insisted that the Admiralty order, in addition to the regular fleet destroyers, fifty smaller, less complex destroyers that could be built in one-third the time of the regular ones. His insistence resulted in a crash program to build the Hunt-class "escort destroyer," a ship 264 feet in length with a displacement of about 1,000 tons, armed with four (later six) 4" guns in twin mountings.

Remarkably, British shipyards launched twenty-eight Hunts by the end of December 1940. Had the U-boat war been confined more or less to the home waters of the British Isles and to the Mediterranean (as in World War I), these little ships might well have made a big difference as convoy escorts. However, by the time the Hunts entered service in 1941, the main arena of the U-boat war had spread to the wider reaches of the Atlantic, beyond the useful range of these short-legged vessels. Besides that (and severe teething problems) the Hunts were not suitable for operations in the extremely rough waters of the North Atlantic. Altogether in the war, the Admiralty built eighty-six Hunts, which were useful mainly in the Mediterranean.

As the war progressed the Admiralty mass-produced 120 more fleet destroyers, more or less standardized at a length of 339 feet. In addition, it built sixteen Battle-class destroyers that, like the Tribal class, were big, complex vessels, 355 feet in length.

British destroyer losses in the period from, 1939 to the end of 1941 were heavy: a total of fifty-six vessels. Forty-six of these were "modern." The cause of loss other than enemy air attack is noted in parentheses.

Owing to these losses and to the unsuitability of the Hunts for operations in the North Atlantic, in the summer of 1940 Prime Minister Churchill requested that President Roosevelt "lend" the British fifty (or more, if possible) destroyers for convoy escort. This resulted in the famous 1940 "Destroyer Deal" in which the United States transferred to the British and Canadian navies fifty 314-foot, 1,200-ton World War I-vintage "four stack" destroyers. The British renamed these ships after towns common to the United States and Britain, hence they became Town-class vessels. In a second, less well known loan in early 1941, Roosevelt transferred to Britain ten relatively modern (1928-1932) 250-foot, 1,700-ton very-long-range Coast Guard cutters, which the British classified as sloops. The loans in more detail:

APPENDIX 10.

THE CANADIAN DESTROYER SITUATION.

19391945 When World War II commenced, the embryonic Royal Canadian Navy had six fairly modern (1931-1939) British-built destroyers in commission, as noted below. Soon after the declaration of war, the Admiralty transferred to the Canadian Navy another British-built destroyer (Assiniboine). A year later, as part of the famous Anglo-American "Destroyer Deal," Canada acquired seven ex-American four-stack destroyers. At about the same time, the Admiralty transferred another destroyer, Margaree, to the Canadian Navy, in effect replacing the prewar Canadian destroyer Fraser, which was rammed and sunk accidentally by the British anti-aircraft cruiser Calcutta. Ironically, a British merchant ship, Port Fairy, rammed and sank Margaree on her first war mission under Canadian command. In subsequent war years, the Admiralty transferred eleven other destroyers to Canada, making a total of twenty-seven destroyers to be commissioned in the Canadian Navy during the war, plus the ex-American four-stack Buxton, a static training ship. Four British-designed Tribal-class destroyers built in Canada were not completed before the end of the war. The Canadian destroyers:

APPENDIX 11.

APPENDIX 12.

THE AMERICAN DESTROYER SITUATION.

JANUARY 1942S 1942SEPTEMBER 1942 1942 Before, during, and just after World War I, the American Navy commissioned about 300 new four-stack destroyers. Many of these were scrapped or laid up in order to comply with ship limitations in various naval treaties in the 1920s and 1930s. Commencing in 1934 with Farragut (DD 348), the Navy began commissioning a fleet of modern destroyers that by 12/31/41 numbered about 100 vessels.

After the United States entered the war on December 8, 1941, the British formed the impression that Admiral King stripped the Atlantic Fleet of most destroyers capable of antisubmarine warfare or convoy escort in the first nine months of 1942 to fight the Japanese in the Pacific. This impression has gradually assumed the status of "fact," but it is not true.1 When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, there were ninety-two commissioned American destroyers in the Atlantic theater. In the nine months to September 1, 1942, nineteen of these (21 percent) were sent to the Pacific, along with nine capital ships: carriers Hornet, Wasp, and Yorktown; battleships Idaho, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Washington.

In the same nine months, the Navy commissioned a total of forty-six new destroyers, forty on the East Coast and six on the West Coast. Fourteen of those commissioned on the East Coast and all (six) commissioned on the West Coast were sent to the Pacific theater, a total of twenty. The other twenty-six were sent to the Atlantic Fleet, raising the number of destroyers assigned to the Atlantic theater in this period to ninety-nine, but four destroyers were lost (Ingraham, Jacob Jones, Sturtevant, Truxton), leaving a net force of ninety-five destroyers in the Atlantic theater on September 1, 1942. That was three more than the count on December 7, 1941, virtually no change.

When the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, there were eighty-five commissioned American destroyers in the Pacific and Far East: fifty assigned to the Pacific Fleet, thirteen to the Asiatic Fleet, and twenty-two to the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th Naval Districts. In the nine months to September 1, 1942, thirty-nine destroyers were added, raising the total number assigned to the Pacific in this period to 124, but ten were lost, leaving a net force of 114 destroyers on September 1, 1942, in the Pacific theater, compared to ninety-five in the Atlantic theater.

From this data it is clear that Admiral King did not strip the Atlantic Fleet of most destroyers capable of antisubmarine warfare or convoy escort in the first nine months of 1942. The size of the Atlantic Fleet destroyer force remained fairly constant. Details:

APPENDIX 13.

AMERICAN DESTROYER ESCORT AND FRIGATE BUILDING PROGRAMS.

The United States Maritime Commission built 671 large oceangoing vessels intended as convoy escorts in World War II. These were designated "destroyer escorts" and "frigates." As indicated below, during the war the Americans transferred a total of ninety-nine of these vessels to Great Britain's Royal Navy (seventy-eight destroyer escorts and twenty-one frigates); six destroyer escorts to the Free French naval forces, operating under British control; and eight destroyer escorts to Brazil.

The American destroyer escorts (DEs) were produced in six "classes" or types, five of them quite similar. The frigates (PFs) derived from the British River-class frigate were all of one class, the twin-screw City. In detail:

APPENDIX 14.

AMERICAN PATROL CRAFT-BUILDING PROGRAM IN WORLD WAR II.

JANUARY 1, 1942 - J 1, 1942 - JULY 1, 1942 1, 1942.

The United States Maritime Commission built 417 patrol craft in World War II. These consisted of 354 173-foot PCs and sixty-three 180-foot PCEs. The Americans transferred forty-four PCs to other navies and fifteen PCEs to the Royal Navy, which designated the ships Kil class. As shown below, thirty-one PCs were completed in the first half of 1942, but owing to delays in fitting out and workup and diversions to schools, on July 1, 1942, the Eastern Sea Frontier had only seven PCs available for convoy escort.

451.

Prewar Prewar 452.

Prewar Prewar 457.

Prewar Prewar 461.

3/19/42 3/19/42.

462.

4/15/42 4/15/42.

463.

4/28/42 4/28/42.

464.

5/15/42 5/15/42.

465.

5/25/42 5/25/42.

466.

6/3/42 6/3/42.

477.

3/30/42 3/30/42.

478.

4/1/42 4/1/42.

479.

4/30/42 4/30/42.

483.

3/12/42 3/12/42.

484.

4/3/42 4/3/42.

485.

4/23/42 4/23/42.

486.

5/15/42 5/15/42.

487.