Richard P. Leary was fitted with the low, square bridge introduced in
Brownson. Like other
2,100-ton Fletcher-class destroyers built at
Boston Navy Yard her specifications were as follows:
DATA
Name: United States Ship Richard P. Leary
Type: Destroyer
Namesake: Rear Admiral Richard Phillips Leary, USN
Navy Classification: DD 664
Class: DD 445, Fletcher
Builder: Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts
Keel laid: 4 July 1943
Launched: 6 October 1943
Commissioned: 23 February 1944
Disposition: Decommissioned: 10 December 1946 Loaned under Military Assistance Program to Japanese Defense Force as Yugure: 10 March 1959; Decommissioned: 7 March 1975; Scrapped: Taiwan, 1 July 1976.
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.
Richard P. Leary’s armament, unchanged during World War II, was that of a typical
low-bridge Fletcher-class destroyer from 1943–4: five 5-inch guns in single mounts, ten 21-inch torpedo tubes in two quintuple mounts, ten 40mm guns in five twin mounts, seven 20mm guns in single mounts and depth charges.
Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 10 x 40mm Bofors in five twin mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 7 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
