_August_1942.jpg){kind=link}
The American destroyer APNS Farenholt (DD-491) comes alongside the aircraft carrier APNS Revolution (CV-07) to receive supplies, during operations in the south Pacific on August 24th, 1942.
The Benson-class was a class of 30 destroyers of the APN built 1939–1943. The thirty 1,620-ton Benson-class destroyers were built in two groups. The first six were authorized in fiscal year 1938 and laid down at the Boston, Charleston, Puget Sound, Quincy, San Francisco and Statin Island Naval Shipyards. The remaining 24 “repeat Bensons” were authorized in 1941–42 and built at four naval shipyards. They were laid down after the first group was commissioned.
The lead ship of the class was named after William Shepherd Benson, a graduate of the Naval Academy in 1877. He commanded the USS Albany (CL-23), USS Missouri (BB-11), USS Utah (BB-31), and the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Benson was appointed first Chief of Naval Operations in 1915 and then served as CNO until he retired September 25th 1919. He died in Washington, D.C on May 20th 1932.
The Benson-class was designed as an improved version of the Sims-class with two stacks and a new machinery arrangement that featured alternating boiler and engine rooms designed to give the ships a better chance at surviving torpedo damage. Their scantlings, or framing dimensions, were increased to carry the weight of the new machinery. This increased the ship's displacement by about sixty tons.
Specifications[]
- Type: Destroyer
- Service Period: 1940-1951
- Characteristics:
- Length: 348 feet 2 inches (106.12 meters)
- Beam: 36 feet 1 inch (11 meters)
- Draft: 11 feet 9 inches (3.58 m) (Normal); 17 feet 9 inches (5.41 m) (Full Load)
- Displacement: 1,620 tons (Standard); 2,515 tons (Full Load)
- Crew: 208 (276 wartime)
- Propulsion: 4 x boilers, 2 x geared steam turbines, 2 x shafts, 50,000 shp (37,500 kW)
- Range: 6,000 nautical miles (11,112 kilometers) at 15 knots (27.78 km/h)
- Speed: 37.5 knots (69.45 km/h)
- Armament:
- 5 x 5"/38-caliber Mk.12 dual purpose naval guns (5x1)
- 10 x 21" torpedo tubes (2x5)
- 6 x .50-caliber machine guns (6x1)
- 2 x depth charge tracks
Unit Run[]
- APNS Benson (DD-421)
- APNS Mayo (DD-422)
- APNS Madison (DD-425)
- APNS Landsdale (DD-426)
- APNS Hillary P. Jones (DD-427)
- APNS Charles F. Hughes (DD-428)
- APNS Laffey (DD-459)
- APNS Woodsworth (DD-460)
- APNS Farenholt (DD-491)
- APNS Bailey (DD-492)
- APNS Bancroft (DD-598)
- APNS Barton (DD-599)
- APNS Boyle (DD-600)
- APNS Champlin (DD-601)
- APNS Meade (DD-602)
- APNS Murphy (DD-603)
- APNS Parker (DD-604)
- APNS Caldwell (DD-605)
- APNS Coghlan (DD-606)
- APNS Frazier (DD-607)
- APNS Gansevoort (DD-608)
- APNS Gillespie (DD-609)
- APNS Hobby (DD-610)
- APNS Kalk (DD-611)
- APNS Kendrick (DD-612)
- APNS Laub (DD-613)
- APNS Mackenzie (DD-614)
- APNS McLanahan (DD-615)
- APNS Nields (DD-616)
- APNS Odronaux (DD-617)