#16: Fletcher-class: The Destroyers That Won the Pacific War
The U.S. Navy built 175 Fletcher-class destroyers between 1942 and 1944, more than any other destroyer class in history. They fought in virtually every major Pacific engagement from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, earning a collective record of valor that no other warship class can match. Nineteen were sunk in combat, and the survivors accumulated hundreds of battle stars.
At 2,500 tons with five 5-inch guns, ten torpedo tubes, and depth charges, Fletchers were built to do everything: screen carriers, escort convoys, bombard shores, hunt submarines, and fight surface actions. USS Johnston's heroic charge at Samar was in a Fletcher. USS O'Bannon fought so many engagements that she became the most decorated destroyer of the war. The Fletcher-class embodied American industrial might and practical naval strategy, built fast, built tough, and built in numbers that overwhelmed the enemy. Several survive today as museum ships, testaments to the workhorse warship that helped win the Pacific.
