As the first Fletcher delivered by Bath Iron Works with what proved to be a standardized arrangement, hull 193,
Strong, shared characteristics with the next 13 high-bridge
2,100-ton Fletcher-class ships built there.
DATA
Name: United States Ship Strong
Type: Destroyer
Namesake: Rear Admiral James H. Strong, USN
Navy Classification: DD 467
Class: DD 445, Fletcher
Authorized: 27 March 1934
Builder: Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine
Builder’s Hull Number: 193
Keel laid: 30 April 1941
Launched: 17 May 1942
Commissioned: 7 August 1942
Disposition: Lost: 5 July 1943
Length Overall: 376' 5½"
Extreme Beam: 39' 8"
Normal Displacement: 2,050 long tons
Draft: Light: 8' 1"; Mean: 13' 5" Deep: 22’8”
Designed Complement: Officers, 34; Enlisted, 295
Designed Shaft Horsepower: 60,000
Designed Speed: 36 knots
Screws: Two
Rudder: One
Stacks: Two
Tactical diameter: 950 yards at 30 knots
Endurance: 4,800 nautical miles at 15 knots
At launch,
Strong carried a high platform deck intended for a 1.1-inch anti-aircraft gun between the Nos. 3 and 4 5-inch gunhouses, but experience with ships already in service showed this tended to overheat and jam in service. As commissioned, therefore,
Strong mounted one of the newly-available twin 40mm Bofors in this location, plus a second 40mm twin on the fantail, giving her the
typical 1942–43 armament for an early high-bridge
Fletcher:
Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 4 x 40mm Bofors in two twin mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 4 x 20mm Oerlikon in single mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 10 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges
Her electronics were also typical:
Radar: SC (air search) and SG (surface search), Mk 37 (fire control)
Sonar: QC
Strong was lost before receiving any modifications.
