Design History
An improved version of the preceding I>Sims class, the Benson's general layout followed the Sims. The most important difference to that class was found belowdecks: the Bensons introduced the alternating engine room - boiler room layout that characterized all new designs at this time. The Bureau of Engineering had announced the availability of boilers equal to such an arrangement in the spring of 1937. The new design required two stacks, since the boilers were now further apart. The alternating arrangement increased tonnage, and a still more durable hull increased tonnage by another fifty tons over the Sims, which everyone concerned considered most acceptable. Controversy arose, however, over the selection of the steam plant to be installed.

Although Navy Yards would build four ships, the other four were split two-two between Bath Iron Works and Bethlehem (Fore River Yard). Arguments arose over who would do the design work, and who thus get to decide on the steam engineering used. In the end, Bethlehem designed the steam plants for the four Navy Yard ships, and Bethlehem's own, which used machinery which returned to the designs of before the Mahan class, which Bethlehem however claimed still equalled those plants in effectiveness. The two Bath boats, designed by Gibbs & Cox of New York, used the more advanced plant of the Mahans, forming a subclass with the Bensons, the Gleaves (& Livermore).

Although similar to the Sims class in other respects when ordered, the ships of the Benson / Gleaves classes would be significantly modified prior to going into service. Returning to study its destroyer designs after having placed the orders for the Bensons, the General Board found that the design itself was fairly good; added anti-aircraft armament might be needed. Since the 28mm L/73 guns which the Board wished for could not be provided on the displacement of the Bensons, the Board asked for two more 12.7mm L/90 guns. Furthermore, it asked for the use of the new quintuple torpedo mounts in place of the quadruple mounts previously asked for; BuEng added that a higher-temperature steam plant could be added. Leaving the external characteristics as they were, the General Board asked for eight such destroyers in FY39, the Livermores. Since the progress of the eight Benson / Gleaves was not so great yet, these changes were also applied to those ships (although only the Gleaves could accomodate the higher temperature boilers). Destroyer production was increasing rapidly now that the limitations of the London Treaties had fallen; this, and the 1938 Naval Expansion Act (the Vinson-Trammel Bill) allowed for increased naval expenditures. Thus, not long after the General Board had approved the eight destroyers for FY39 (in the spring of 1938), it asked for eight more of the Livermores for FY40 (approved by the Secretary of the Navy in December 1939). This request was, so to speak, "advance funded" by the Vinson bill.

The final batch of the Benson design, the Bristols, were similar to the War Emergency destroyer program in Britain: ships which were not the latest design, but could be built rapidly and were still useful. During the considerations for the ships to be built under the FY41 program (by now essentially unrestricted through several acts of Congress), the General Board pointed to the desirability of maintaining destroyer production at high speeds, without incurring the lapse from the old design (Livermore) to the new one (Fletcher). Concurring, the orders for 12 units were placed in May 1940; followed by 15 more in September, and 41 more in December. All units traded in the No.3 gun for a combination of 20mm and 40mm guns (initially only 20mm guns in ships commissioned early). The machinery, gun-fire control and general design followed the Livermore class, although wartime expediency required less streamlining. However, all 5" guns were in enclosed mounts in this class.

Modification History
The difficulty of tracing the modifications to so many different ships is obvious; it must necessarily be abbreviated here. All ships traded their 12.7mm L/90 guns against 20mms in 1942, and received search and fire-control radars. Some had additional 20mm guns added. Atlantic ships had additional depth charge storage and more throwers, removing one quintuple torpedo mount. As time and availability permitted, starting in late 1942, these ships were equipped with 40mm twins, or alternatively for some time with a 28mm quad, and had open 5" guns (where used) replaced by enclosed mounts. Late in 1944, a number of ships received more AA guns instead of one quintuple mount. Between 1944 and 1945, twenty-four ships were rebuilt as fast minesweepers. Sixteen underwent Kamikaze refits in mid-1945. Armament varied. For examples, see below.

Service History
It is impossible to trace the service history of individual ships given the huge numbers concerned. Suffice it to say that ships of this class participated in every naval operation of World War II. Although most were scrapped in the 1940s, some were retained into the fifties. The majority of these destroyers was initially deployed to the Atlantic, while the later Fletchers went to fleet operations in the Pacific. However, as the Atlantic became less of a battlefield in 1944/45, many of the previously assigned destroyers went to the Pacific.

Ships in class:

Benson-type DD-421 Benson DD-422 Mayo DD-425 Madison DD-426 Lansdale DD-427 Hilary P. Jones DD-428 Charles F. Hughes Gleaves-type DD-423 Gleaves DD-424 Niblack Livermore-type DD-429 Livermore DD-430 Eberle DD-431 Plunkett DD-432 Kearny DD-433 Gwin DD-434 Meredith DD-435 Grayson DD-436 Monssen DD-437 Woolsey DD-438 Ludlow DD-439 Edison DD-440 Ericsson DD-441 Wilkes DD-442 Nicholson DD-443 Swanson DD-444 Ingraham

Bristol-type DD-453 Bristol DD-454 Ellyson DD-455 Hambleton DD-456 Rodman DD-457 Emmons DD-458 Macomb DD-459 Laffey DD-460 Woodworth DD-461 Forrest DD-462 Fitch DD-463 Corry DD-464 Hobson DD-483 Aaron Ward DD-484 Buchanan DD-485 Duncan DD-486 Lansdowne DD-487 Lardner DD-488 McCalla DD-489 Mervine DD-490 Quick DD-491 Farenholt DD-492 Bailey DD-493 Carmick DD-494 Doyle DD-495 Endicott DD-496 McCook DD-497 Frankford DD-598 Bancroft

DD-599 Barton DD-600 Boyle DD-601 Champlin DD-602 Meade DD-603 Murphy DD-604 Parker DD-605 Caldwell DD-606 Coghlan DD-607 Frazier DD-608 Gansevoort DD-609 Gillespie DD-610 Hobby DD-611 Kalk DD-612 Kendrick DD-613 Laub DD-614 Mackenzie DD-615 McLanahan DD-616 Nields DD-617 Ordronaux DD-618 Davison DD-619 Edwards DD-620 Glennon DD-621 Jeffers DD-622 Maddox DD-623 Nelson DD-624 Baldwin DD-625 Harding DD-626 Satterlee

DD-627 Thompson DD-628 Welles DD-632 Cowie DD-633 Knight DD-634 Doran DD-635 Earle DD-636 Butler DD-637 Gherardi DD-638 Herndon DD-639 Shubrick DD-640 Beatty DD-641 Tillman DD-645 Stevenson DD-646 Stockton DD-647 Thorn DD-648 Turner