Official U.S. Navy histories attribute the birth of the destroyer to some significant events that occurred during the last decade of the 18^th century. The first involved the introduction of the torpedo boat, which the histories describe as “swift, small craft [that] were able to dash in close to larger ships, loose their torpedoes, and dash away.” In demonstrating their naval combat contributions in the Chilean Civil War and Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the torpedo boats heightened a global awareness among many of the world’s navies of the need for a counter weapon. It was to fulfill this role that the torpedo boat destroyer, later just “destroyer,” was born.

Few military platforms in history have witnessed the growth of both mission responsibilities and capabilities experienced by the destroyer. From their initial “torpedo boat destroyer” role, these versatile ships have dramatically expanded their military contributions through the assumption of anti-submarine, air defense, strike warfare, and other unique mission roles. Most significantly, that tactical evolution now continues into the 21st century with the Arleigh Burke and Zumwalt classes of destroyers.

Given the critical role that destroyers play in U.S. Navy surface fleet inventories, it is somewhat ironic that the service’s first encounter with destroyers involved hostile ones attempting to attack a squadron of U.S. Navy ships.

On July 3, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Spanish Adm. Pascual Cervera sent two destroyers against a U.S. Navy squadron in Santiago Harbor. Service histories note that the “American cruisers quickly took aim on the destroyers, blowing one out of the water. An American armed yacht, USS Gloucester, moved in on the second destroyer and sank it. Our Navy, realizing that had these destroyers had better handling and thus could have inflicted serious damage, sent out orders to speed the American destroyer program, then in its infancy.”

USS Bainbridge (DD 1) was the first ship classified as a destroyer by the U.S. Navy. Built in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the 420-ton destroyer was launched on Aug. 27, 1901, and commissioned in November 1902, subsequently remaining in reserve status until February 1903. The lead ship in her class of 16 ships, she had an overall length of 250 feet, a top speed of 29 knots, a crew of 75, and was armed with two 3-inch guns, five 6-pounders, and two 18-inch torpedo tubes.

In December 1903, USS Bainbridge left the United States, accompanied by four of her sister destroyers, and steamed to the Philippines by way of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Suez Canal, and Indian Ocean. Arriving near Manila in April 1904, she served in the Far East for the next thirteen years, primarily around in the Philippine Islands and along the China coast.

Yet even while USS Bainbridge was still serving in Asian waters, the Navy introduced several new modifications and classes of destroyers, including the Hopkins, Lawrence, Truxton, Smith, Flusser, Paulding, Roe, Monaghan, Cassin, Aylwin, O’Brien, Tucker, and Sampson classes.

Even more significantly, the roles and missions for U.S. Navy destroyers were already being expanded closer to home. One representative example occurred on June 1, 1916, when the Smith-class destroyer USS Lamson (DD 18) commanded by Capt. Frederick M. Wise, was joined by the USS Panter (AD 6) in responding to a threatened Caribbean region insurrection by landing U.S. Marines at the port of Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic.

Two months later, Congress approved President Woodrow Wilson’s request to build a navy equal to any in the world with the Naval Act of 1916, authorizing 50 destroyers to be built over a three year period.

As World War I continued to engulf greater portions of the globe, early United States neutrality was being severely strained by the loss of American lives as a result of German submarine warfare against British merchantmen. The United States protested when the German submarines expanded their torpedo campaign and began sinking American shipping bound for England. The protests, the sinkings, and the loss of lives continued until April 6, 1917, when the United States declared war on Germany.

The first U.S. warships reached the European theater at Queenstown, Ireland, in early May. Commander Joseph K. Taussig’s Destroyer Squadron 8 included USS Wadsworth (DD 60), USS Conyngham (DD 58), USS Davis (DD 65), USS McDougal (DD 54), USS Porter (DD 59), and USS Wainwright (DD 62). When Vice Adm. Sir Lewis Bayly, the British commander, asked Taussig when his squadron would be ready for sea after crossing a stormy Atlantic, he famously replied, “We are ready now, sir.”

USS Bainbridge left the southwest Pacific region in August to reinforce the U.S. Navy’s battle against the German U-Boats in the eastern Atlantic. Between September 1917 and mid-1918, she operated in the vicinity of Gibraltar, escorting convoys and conducting patrols.

Meanwhile, other destroyers from some of the newer class designs were escorting convoys across the North Atlantic. The U.S. Navy Web page “Greyhounds of the Sea” notes that Adm. William S. Sims, USN, “persuaded the British to try the convoy system of shipping goods again. The British had tried the system before but, because they seemed to have little defense against the U-boat, decided that it wasn’t worth the price. Now, with British supplies running dangerously low and American destroyers helping to combat the submarine menace, the convoy system was reinstated. With American destroyers escorting convoys, the German’s submarine toll was reduced: from 900,000 tons in April 1917 to one-third of that by November.”

“The first German submarine sunk by the U.S. Navy in World War I was the U-58. It was the only U-boat kill of the war by American destroyers. On Nov. 17, 1917, destroyers USS Fanning (DD 37) and USS Nicholson (DD 52) were escorting an Atlantic convoy near the Hebrides. Suddenly, Fanning‘s lookouts sighted a periscope moving through the sea. Fanning swung about, raced toward the sub at top speed, and began attacking with depth charges. The U-boat partially surfaced. Then, Nicholson joined the fray, making a depth-charge pass of her own. The explosions jammed the sub’s diving gear and the U-boat plunged towards the bottom. At about 300 feet, the sub blew ballast and shot toward the surface. Fanning and Nicholson were waiting when the U-boat broke the surface and the destroyers began shelling. This was enough for the Germans, who quickly surrendered. But the U-boat’s skipper ordered the seacocks opened and as the destroyers were picking the surrendering Germans off the sub, it eased below the surface, never to come up again. Forty survivors were taken prisoner.”

The tables were turned three weeks later, on Dec. 6, 1917, when USS Jacob Jones (DD 61) was torpedoed and sunk by the U-53 near the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Great Britain. Sixty-four crewmen were lost in the attack. The U-boat commander surfaced for prisoners and radioed the position of the sinking destroyer to the U.S. naval base at Queenstown, resulting in the rescue of thirty-five surviving sailors.

That same month, the Navy commissioned USS Caldwell (DD 69), an 1125-ton (normal displacement) 310-foot long destroyer built by the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. The 30-knot Caldwell was the name ship of a class of six destroyers that reintroduced the soon to be widely used “flush deck” hull form to the U.S. destroyer force. Commissioned at the beginning of December 1917, she crossed the Atlantic to the European war zone during the first quarter of 1918, and was employed on patrol and convoy escort duties for the rest of World War I. In addition to taking part in experiments with submarine detection equipment, Caldwell was also the first destroyer to be equipped with standard 21-inch torpedo tubes.

USS Wickes (DD 75) followed the Caldwell as the name ship of a class of thirty-eight 1090-ton destroyers. Built at Bath, Maine, she was commissioned at the end of July 1918 and began World War I operations early in August, escorting a convoy across the Atlantic to the British Isles and returning to the U.S. by way of the Azores.

Summarizing its assessment of destroyer contributions during World War I, the U.S. Navy Web page notes, “American destroyers in World War I made some lasting contributions to U.S. seapower. In their 250 battles with German submarines, the gallant little ships laid the groundwork for modern antisubmarine warfare. They had guarded the trans-Atlantic crossing of two million men without the loss of a single life or transport ship. And, by mounting 3-inch anti-aircraft guns, they had foreseen the day when ships would do battle with enemies in the sky. By the end of the “war to end all wars,” the U.S. had the largest destroyer fleet in the world, but the Disarmament Treaty of 1922 caused more than 200 of these valiant ships to be decommissioned while 40 more were scrapped. Not one new destroyer was launched between 1921 and 1934.”

America began rebuilding her destroyer forces in the early 1930s against the unmistakable backdrop of increasing Nazi militarization. Forty-five of the new “DDs” were authorized for the last half of the decade.