Despite the external variations, the general interior layout varied very little. Other variations included seaplane catapults (see the photo of Pringle below), a variety of post-war weapon upgrades and radar antennas. Photos of Fletcher-class destroyers can usually be dated by the mainmast style and the camouflage paint scheme. In addition, after World War II the mainmasts on most Fletchers were converted to tripods to better support heavier radar antennas.
Six surplus Fletchers given to West Germany in the 1960s were to be used temporarily until German-made ships were available, and so instead of formal names they were given only numbers (Destroyer 1 to 6) as it turned out, most were used for nearly two decades.įletchers were built in two visually distinctive variations: Round-bridge (also known as high-bridge) had a curved pilot house square-bridge (or low-bridge) has a more angular pilot house that was roomier, had better visibility and was easier to fabricate no round-bridge examples remain. Most of those sent to foreign navies after World War II were renamed, though some that were used only for spare parts kept their original American names. Most Fletchers were named after Navy and Marine Corps heroes. We also have an excellent external overview of the main parts of a Fletcher-class destroyer. You can also visit one of the four Fletcher destroyers that are moored as floating museums. No battleships were lost after Pearl Harbor.)ĭestroyer History has a good summary of the Fletchers. (American submarines suffered 18% losses and there were about 10% losses among aircraft carriers. Nine were heavily damaged by kamikaze attacks at Okinawa. Some Fletchers suffered terribly while protecting the fleet De Haven was bombed and sunk just 134 days after being commissioned. One example, the former John Rodgers, was active in the Mexican Navy until July 2001 - an astonishing 59 years, 1 month and 16 days after the first Fletcher destroyer was commissioned it was also the last Fletcher destroyer to be scrapped, in 2010.Ī total of 19 Fletchers were lost in World War II and another six were damaged beyond repair, a relatively high loss rate of 14%. Fletcher-class destroyers became one of the most successful weapon systems deployed in World War II, with 175 built and a few still in service around the world well after 1990.
#Ct fletchers iron wars series#
Following naval tradition, a class of identical ships is named after the first ship of the series - Fletcher, was launched in May 1942. Abbot was a Fletcher-class destroyer built in 1943.
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