The Mahan-class destroyers "of the United States Navy were a series of 18 destroyers of which the first 16 were laid down in 1934. The last two of the 18, Dunlap and Fanning (this pair laid down in 1935), are sometimes considered as a separate ship class. All 18 were commissioned in 1936 and 1937. Mahan was the lead ship, named for Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, an influential historian and theorist on sea power."
The Mahan-class destroyers emerged as improved versions of the Farraguts, which were themselves considered second only to the Japanese Fubuki-class destroyers. The Navy's General Board had been wrestling with proposed design changes, first considering 12 torpedo tubes with one fewer 5"/38 caliber gun, and then proposing to retain all five guns with the 12 torpedo tubes, but configuring those guns only for surface targets, not air targets. The Chief of Naval Operations objected, recommending against 'subordinating the gun to the torpedo,' and a compromise was struck that included a new engineering plant and a new battery arrangement for the Mahan class and others. In the final design, No. 3 gun was moved to the aft deckhouse (just ahead of No. 4) to make room for the third quadruple torpedo tube; the two middle torpedo tubes were moved to the sides, releasing the centerline space for extension of the aft deckhouse.... The traditional destroyer machinery was replaced with a new generation of land-based machinery. This change ushered in a new steam propulsion system that combined increases in pressure and temperature with a new type of lightweight steam turbine, which proved simpler and more efficient to operate. These changes led to a ten percent increase in displacement over the Farraguts.As well, "[t]heir peacetime complement was 158 officers and enlisted men. The wartime complement increased to approximately 250 officers and enlisted men."
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