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*Robert H. Smith*-class destroyer
	USS Adams
Class overview
Name	Robert H. Smith class
Builders	Bath Iron Works, Maine (6); Bethlehem Staten Island, New York (3); Bethlehem San Pedro, California (3);
Operators	United States Navy; Turkish Navy;
Completed	12
Retired	12
General characteristics
Type	Destroyer minelayer
Displacement	2,200 tons (standard)
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 Wheeler boilers; two General Electric or Westinghouse geared steam turbines, 60,000 shp (45,000 kW) total; two shafts
Speed	34 kn (63 km/h) max
Range	4,600 nmi (8,500 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement	363 standard
Armament	6 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. guns (in 3 twin Mk 38 mounts); 12 × 40 mm Bofors AA guns (2 × 4, 2 × 2); 11 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA guns; 2 × Depth charge tracks; 4 × K-gun depth charge projectors; 80 × mines;

The Robert H. Smith class of destroyer minelayers was built by the United States during World War II. The class was named for naval officer Robert H. Smith.

These vessels were all originally laid down as Allen M. Sumner-class destroyers and converted during construction in 1944. In that time the United States produced twelve Robert H. Smith-class destroyer minelayers. Their original hull numbers were DD-735-40, 749-51, and 771-73.^[2] None of the Robert H. Smith-class vessels ever laid a mine in wartime, though they were frequently employed in minesweeping. Minelayers did not carry torpedo tubes. Otherwise they were used interchangeably with other destroyer types. As radar pickets at Okinawa, Aaron Ward, Lindsey, and J. William Ditter were damaged by kamikazes, and Shea by a Baka bomb.^[3] Five of the class served actively in the 1950s, but all survivors were mothballed by the end of the decade and were disposed of in the 1970s. None of this class received FRAM conversions.

Ships in class

Ship name	Hull no.	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate
Robert H. Smith	DM-23 (ex-DD-735)	Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine	10 January 1944	25 May 1944	4 August 1944	29 January 1947	Struck, 26 February 1971
Thomas E. Fraser	DM-24 (ex-DD-736)		31 January 1944	10 June 1944	22 August 1944	12 September 1955	Sold for scrap, 12 June 1974
Shannon	DM-25 (ex-DD-737)		14 February 1944	24 June 1944	8 September 1944	24 October 1955	Sold for scrap, May 1973
Harry F. Bauer	DM-26 (ex-DD-738)		6 March 1944	9 July 1944	22 September 1944	12 March 1956	Sold for scrap, 1 June 1974
Adams	DM-27 (ex-DD-739)		20 March 1944	23 July 1944	10 October 1944	December 1946	Sold for scrap, 16 December 1971
Tolman	DM-28 (ex-DD-740)		10 April 1944	13 August 1944	27 October 1944	29 January 1947	Sunk as a target 25 January 1997
Henry A. Wiley	DM-29 (ex-DD-749)	Bethlehem Staten Island, Staten Island, New York	28 November 1943	21 April 1944	31 August 1944	29 January 1947	Sold for scrap, 30 May 1972
Shea	DM-30 (ex-DD-750)		23 December 1943	20 May 1944	30 September 1944	9 April 1958	Sold for scrap, 1 September 1974
J. William Ditter	DM-31 (ex-DD-751)		25 January 1944	4 July 1944	28 October 1944	28 September 1945	Scrapped, July 1946
Lindsey	DM-32 (ex-DD-771)	Bethlehem Shipbuilding, San Pedro, California, Terminal Island	12 September 1943	5 March 1944	20 August 1944	25 May 1946	Sunk as a target 1 May 1972
Gwin	DM-33 (ex-DD-772)		31 October 1943	9 April 1944	30 September 1944	3 September 1946	Transferred to Turkey 15 August 1971
Gwin	DM-33 (ex-DD-772)		31 October 1943	9 April 1944	8 July 1952	3 April 1958	Transferred to Turkey 15 August 1971
Aaron Ward	DM-34 (ex-DD-773)		12 December 1943	5 May 1944	28 October 1944	28 September 1945	Sold for scrap 1946

References

^ Silverstone, p. 212
^ Silverstone, p. 212
^ Silverstone, p. 212

Sources

Friedman, Norman "US Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History (Revised Edition)", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis:2004, ISBN 1-55750-442-3.
Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, Conway Maritime Press, 1980. ISBN 0-83170-303-2.
Silverstone, Paul H., U.S. Warships of World War II (Ian Allan, 1965), ISBN 0-87021-773-9