- Yes
- Maybe
- Unsure
- No
Background & History
The Robert H. Smith class destroyer minelayers is a class of 12 destroyers built during the Second World War, yet if these ships look familiar then your eyes do not deceive you, for in fact these Sumner class destroyers. To explain the Robert H. Smith class was a subclass of the Sumner class built during the same time, these ships were originally to be completed as more Sumner class destroyers however however what ended up happening is that a select number of vessels were modified which allowed them to fill the role of minelayers which made them a new class of destroyer which were then named the Robert H. Smith class destroyer and due to their new classification the ships used a new designation of DM rather than the DD designation
In terms of design these ships were visually identical to the Sumner class with the ship having 6 5-inch/38 Mark 12 guns in 3 Mark 38 mounts, the AA armament was similar with the ship having 12 40mm Bofors in 2 quad mounts and 8 20mm Oerlikon AA guns in single mounts though this would of course change as eventually the single mounts would be replaced by twins but this varied by ships, as a result of the conversion the ship had no torpedo tubes but did retain 4 depth charge throwers and 2 depth charge racks, as for the mines the ships could carry between 80 to 120 mines varying on the source. Post war the ships would remain in service however would not received the FRAM II modernization the Sumner class received though the anti aircraft armament was improved as surviving ships seem to have had another quad 40mm mount added to the ship however they would not even receive even the 3-inch/50 gun that Sumner class destroyers had received in the 1950’s.
In terms of service the ships of the class would be in service by 1944 and despite their purpose of being minelayers would in fact find themselves never laying any mines during the Second World War but quite ironically they would end up often acting as minesweepers as well as being used in other destroyer roles with the class being very active (this is not to say they never carried mines, they did), one such example would be 4 ships of the class being damaged during the invasion of Okinawa while acting as radar pickets with 3 by Kamikazes and one by a Ohka and all the ships would technically survive the war however due to the damage being so extensive enough along with the US now having plenty of destroyers in their reserves including other modern destroyers at least 2 would be scrapped before the end of the 1940’s however a number of them would post war either be put into reserve or remain in service with the USN by the 1950’s with a total of 5 of the remaining ships being active by the 1950’s with only one of the ships which was put into the reserves returning to service in that time however near the end of the 1950’s all the ships had been decommissioned and only one would get another lease in life which ironically was the ship which had entered service in the 1950’s, the USS Gwin (DM-33) which was sold to Turkey and was active until at least to the 1990’s when the was damaged during a NATO exercise by a sea sparrow from the carrier USS Saratoga but past that is not really clear what happened to the ship is unclear however the damage to the ship was extensive.
Their main armament originally consisted of mostly the same of what Sumner class destroyers had with the main armament being 6 5-inch/38 Mark 12 guns in 3 Mark 38 Mod 1 turrets, the AA armament was slightly less with the ships having 12 40mm Bofors in 2 quad mounts and 2 twin mounts along with 8 20mm Oerlikon AA gun in single mounts which was less than the standard Sumner class destroyer, the main difference was that these ships were not equipped with any torpedo tubes to compensate for the weigh the miens carried would require, the ships were able to carry 120 to 80 mines varying by source and were even able to retain both depth charge racks and 4 depth charge throwers however the latter weapon was relocated more near where the rear torpedo tube mount on a Sumner class destroyer would be located, over their service their armament would change (sources don’t list what specific changes were made and so these are from what I was able to discern from images as well as following what I could from sources) with the AA armament on remaining ships increasing to 16 40mm Bofors with another quad mount added as well up to 10 20mm Oerlikon’s in twin mounts (this number is not definitive because it seems some mounts were removed as well as different ships had different amounts, the amount of 40mm guns is consistent but the 20mm guns seem to vary so the number listed in specifications will vary from my observations from images, I will try to be as accurate as possible but I can’t guarantee that each refit applies to all ships of the class at certain points of time)
Specifications
Displacement:
2,610 tons (standard)
3,218 tons (fully loaded)
Length: 376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam: 40 ft 10 in (12.45 m)
Draft: 18 ft 10 in (5.74 m)
Propulsion:
4 Babcock & Wilcox or Foster Wheelerboilers
2 General Electric or Westinghouse geared steam turbines
60,000 shp (45,000 kW) total
2 shafts
Speed: 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range: 4,600 nmi (8,500 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement: 363
Sensors and systems: (Remained the same as the normal Sumner class so the systems here are for the Sumner class since they apply here)
As built
1 x SC radar
1 x SG radar
1 x Mk 12.22 radar
1 x QGA sonar
Ships by the 1950’s
1 x AN/SPS-6 Radar
1 x AN/SPS-10 Radar
1 x QGA sonar
Armament:
(Please read if you are doing the poll) Disclosure: While the main armament is consistent the AA armament will vary and is not based off any of the sources in the sources section (minus the 40mm guns somewhat) as instead due to sources not clarifying but images do showing that the AA armament changed over time, while the 40mm guns are easy to discern in the amount the 20mm guns is hard to exactly figure out and this will be the most uncertain for the final mentioned refit though it should be consistent probably by that point for all ships, so when voting on the poll please keep this in mind that some figures are subject to change (mainly the 20mm guns) however since I have had a hard time in trying to figure it out I wouldn’t expect the values to change at the fact I am even including this to become fully definitive however I have attempted to make it as specific as possible. All numbers are based off of observed images of various ships from Navsource with some images used from wikipedia if they are higher quality from navsoruce and if certain images are not on navsource.
Ships as built (May not apply to all, based off observed images, based off of USS Robert H. Smith (DM-23) from various images of the ship taken above in 1944 along with images of USS Gwin in 1944)
Primary Armament:
6 x 5-inch/38 Mark 12 guns, Mark 38 Mod 1 mounts
(3 x 2)
AA Armament:
12 x 40mm Bofors AA guns
(2 x 4 & 2 x 2)
8 x 20mm Oerlikon AA guns
(8 x 1)
Other weapons:
4 x Depth charge throwers
2 x Depth charge racks
80 to 120 × mines (varies by source)
Ships by 1945/46 (May not apply to all, based off observed images, based off USS Adams (DM-27) in 1946)
Primary Armament:
6 x 5-inch/38 Mark 12 guns, Mark 38 Mod 1 mounts
(3 x 2)
AA Armament:
16 x 40mm Bofors AA guns
(3 x 4 & 2 x 2)
10 x 20mm Oerlikon AA guns
(5 x 2)
Other weapons:
4 x Depth charge throwers (relocated atop mine rails, not sure if they from this point on they no long use mines from this point on but if so these weapons would have to be removed unless total mine count was reduced)
2 x Depth charge racks
80 to 120 × mines (varies by source) (May not have been carried anymore by this point, only reason being the relocation of depth charge throwers but sources don’t say this, also the rails are actually retained so it could be a case the total number was reduced but that just my own though)
Ships by the early 1950’s (May not apply to all, based off observed images of USS Harry F. Bauer (DM-26) in 1952)
Primary Armament:
6 x 5-inch/38 Mark 12 guns, Mark 38 Mod 1 mounts
(3 x 2)
AA Armament:
16 x 40mm Bofors AA guns
(3 x 4 & 2 x 2)
6 to 8 x 20mm Oerlikon AA guns (Not sure about one of the mounts)
(3 to 4 x 2)
Other weapons:
4 x Depth charge throwers (relocated atop mine rails, not sure if they from this point on they no long use mines from this point on but if so these weapons would have to be removed unless total mine count was reduced) (Based off USS Robert H. Smith (DM-23) from a image in 1946 though the images which show this are from 1946
2 x Depth charge racks
80 to 120 × mines (varies by source) (May not have been carried anymore by this point, only reason being the relocation of depth charge throwers but sources don’t say this, also the rails are actually retained so it could be a case the total number was reduced but that just my own though)
Ships by the late 1950’s (May not apply to all, based off observed images of various ships)
Primary Armament:
6 x 5-inch/38 Mark 12 guns, Mark 38 Mod 1 mounts
(3 x 2)
AA Armament:
16 x 40mm Bofors AA guns
(3 x 4 & 2 x 2)
Other weapons:
4 x Depth charge throwers (relocated atop mine rails, not sure if they from this point on they no long use mines from this point on but if so these weapons would have to be removed unless total mine count was reduced) (Based off USS Robert H. Smith (DM-23) from a image in 1946 though the images which show this are from 1946
2 x Depth charge racks
80 to 120 × mines (varies by source) (May not have been carried anymore by this point, only reason being the relocation of depth charge throwers but sources don’t say this, also the rails are actually retained so it could be a case the total number was reduced but that just my own though)
Sources
Spoiler
Robert H. Smith-class destroyer - Wikipedia
https://www.navypedia.org/ships/usa/us_ml_dm.htm
Following sources were used to identify armament for the more specific refits and options used by at least particular ships which had images which allowed these observations
Image Sources