In early 1942, however, with construction well under way, the Chief of Naval Operations ordered the substitution of new 40mm twin Bofors and 20mm single Oerlikon guns as they became available. Strong was the first Bath-built 2,100-tonner to receive the 40mm twins—two of them, (one on the after deckhouse and one on the fantail)—plus four 20mm, two forward and two in the waist.
The images above show Strong 17 May 1942, the day she was launched at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, on the Kennebec River. Sponsored by Mrs. Hobart Olson, she was the fourth Fletcher-class destroyer built at Bath, which eventually completed 31 of them before changing over production to Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class ships.
