Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts
Destroyers and Destroyer Escorts.The modern destroyer (DD) is a general purpose warship capable of surface, subsurface, and antiair warfare. Destroyers evolved from ships designed to destroy torpedo boats that threatened battleships at the end of the nineteenth century. Much like the horizontal expansion of fortifications around castles to protect them from cannons, torpedo boat destroyers formed a defensive ring around capital ships and engaged torpedo boats beyond torpedo range. By the turn of the century, destroyers mounted torpedoes and replaced the torpedo boat.
The introduction of the submarine during World War I resulted in the need for destroyers to escort convoys and hunt submarines. A destroyer shortage led to a conflict over U.S. shipbuilding resources. Adm. William S. Sims, commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe, disagreed with the chief of naval operations (CNO), Adm. William S....
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