page_title: Wickes-class destroyer
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Wickes-class destroyer / Production
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey (USA), in May 1919. Seven Wickes-class destroyers and a Clemson-class destroyer are fitting out. These ships are (from left to right): USS Dickerson (Destroyer # 157, builder's hull # 216); USS Leary (Destroyer # 158, builder's hull # 217); USS Schenck (Destroyer # 159, builder's hull # 218); USS Herbert (Destroyer # 160, builder's hull # 219); USS Brooks (Destroyer # 232, builder's hull # 221); USS Hatfield (Destroyer # 231, builder's hull # 220); USS Babbitt (Destroyer # 128, builder's hull # 213) and USS DeLong (Destroyer # 129, builder's hull # 214). Note the triple torpedo tubes on the wharf in the center foreground, and the destroyer smokestacks in the lower left.
context_page_description: The Wickes-class destroyers were a class of 111 destroyers built by the United States Navy in 1917–19. Along with the 6 preceding Caldwell-class and 156 subsequent Clemson-class destroyers, they formed the "flush-deck" or "four-stack" type. Only a few were completed in time to serve in World War I, including USS Wickes, the lead ship of the class.
  While some were scrapped in the 1930s, the rest served through World War II. Most of these were converted to other uses; nearly all in U.S. service had half their boilers and one or more stacks removed to increase fuel and range or accommodate troops. Others were transferred to the British Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, some of which were later transferred to the Soviet Navy. All were scrapped within a few years after World War II.
context_section_description: The United States Congress authorized 50 destroyers in the 1916 Act. However, the realization of the scope of the U-boat campaign resulted in 111 being built. The ships were built at Bath Iron Works, Bethlehem Steel Corporation's Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Union Iron Works, Mare Island Navy Yard, Newport News Shipbuilding, New York Shipbuilding, and William Cramp & Sons. 267 Wickes and Clemson-class destroyers were built. This program was considered a major industrial achievement. Production of these destroyers was considered so important that work on cruisers and battleships was delayed to allow completion of the program. The first Wickes-class vessel was launched on 11 November 1917, with four more by the end of the year. Production peaked in July 1918, when 17 were launched - 15 of them on 4 July.
  The program continued after the war ended: 21 of the Wickes class (and all but 9 of the Clemson class) were launched after the armistice on 11 November 1918. The last of the Wickes class was launched on 24 July 1919. This program left the U.S. Navy with so many destroyers that no new destroyers were built until 1932.
caption: 8 destroyers of the Wickes class, New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, 1919.
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