The first automotive torpedo was developed in 1866, and the torpedo boat was developed soon after. In 1898, while the Spanish–American War was being fought in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt wrote that the Spanish torpedo boat destroyers were the only threat to the American Navy, and pushed for the acquisition of similar vessels. On 4 May 1898, the US Congress authorized the first sixteen torpedo boat destroyers and twelve seagoing torpedo boats for the United States Navy.Simpson p. 22

In World War I, the U.S. Navy began mass-producing destroyers, laying 273 keels of the and destroyers. The peacetime years between 1919 and 1941 resulted in many of these flush deck destroyers being laid up. Additionally, treaties regulated destroyer construction. The 1500-ton destroyers built in the 1930s under the treaties had stability problems that limited expansion of their armament in World War II. During World War II, the United States began building larger 2100-ton destroyers with five-gun main batteries, but without stability problems.

The first major warship produced by the U.S. Navy after World War II (and in the Cold War) were "frigates"—the ships were originally designated destroyer leaders but reclassified in 1975 as guided missile cruisers (except the became guided missile destroyers). These grew out of the last all-gun destroyers of the 1950s. In the middle 1970s the s entered service, optimized for anti-submarine warfare. A special class of guided missile destroyers was produced for the Shah of Iran, but due to the Iranian Revolution these ships could not be delivered and were added to the U.S. Navy.

The , introduced in 1991, has been the U.S. Navy's only destroyer class in commission since 2005; construction continued through 2012 and was restarted in 2015. A further class, the , is entering service; the first ship was launched in 2013. The Zumwalt class will number three ships.

Pre–World War I

In 1864, US Navy Lt. William B. Cushing sank the ironclad using a "spar torpedo"—an explosive device mounted on a long pole and detonated underwater. Two years later in Austria, the British engineer Robert Whitehead developed a compressed air "automotive" torpedo; capable of over a distance of . The threat a small, fast, torpedo–delivering ship could pose to the battle line became clear to navies around the world; giving birth to the torpedo boat, including of the United States Navy.

During the Spanish–American War, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt wrote Spanish torpedo boat destroyers (such as the 370-ton ) were "the only real menace" to the fleet blockading Santiago, and pushed for the acquisition of torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers. As President, Theodore Roosevelt continued to pay close attention to naval affairs, including the expansion of the Navy's fleet of destroyers.

In 1898 Congress authorized 16 torpedo boat destroyers, which would join the fleet by 1903. The first torpedo boat destroyers, the , featured two torpedo tubes and two guns, displacing . The subsequent and classes displaced , the reason these classes were nicknamed "flivvers" (lightweights, after the Model T Ford). By the time the United States entered World War I, destroyers displaced and burned oil instead of coal. These "1000 tonners" were armed with eight to twelve torpedo tubes, four /50 caliber guns; and had a complement of approximately 100 officers and men. The 1000 tonners were the through classes, and were also called "broken deckers", due to their high forecastles.

+ Pre-World War I ship classes of the United States Navy Class name Number of ships First ship laid down Last ship commissioned Notes References Photo 13 1899 1902 Part of the original 16 "torpedo boat destroyers" authorized by Congress. 3 1899 1903 Part of the original 16 "torpedo boat destroyers" authorized by Congress. 5 1908 1909 Known as "flivvers" for their light weight of 740 tons. 21 1909 1912 Known as "flivvers" for their light weight of 740 tons. 4 1912 1913 Known as "broken deckers" for their high forecastles, or "1000  tonners" because of their weight. 4 1912 1914 Known as "broken deckers" for their high forecastles, or "1000  tonners" because of their weight. 6 1913 1915 Known as "broken deckers" for their high forecastles, or "1000 tonners" because of their weight. 6 1914 1916 Known as "broken deckers" for their high forecastles, or "1000 tonners" because of their weight. 6 1915 1917 Known as "broken deckers" for their high forecastles, or "1000 tonners" because of their weight.

World War I

Prior to entering World War I in 1917, the United States began producing destroyers to a new design with a continuous sheer strake, collectively referred to as "flush deckers". Six prototypes of the were dissimilar: three had three stacks; two of these also had three screws. The others of this and the 267 ships of the mass-production and classes that followed all had two screws. As built, they also had four stacks, which gave rise to the nicknames "four stackers" or "four pipers". Eleven shipyards participated in their construction, which peaked in 1917 and 1918. By the time of the Armistice of 11 November 1918, keels for 177 ships had been laid and 41 had joined the fleet. Though the remaining ships were not needed in peacetime, the building program continued and by the end of May 1921, all but four of the 273 flush-deckers had been placed in commission. The final two did not follow until August 1922.

While the flush-deckers' freeboard fore and aft were designed to match preceding classes, the new ships differed in other respects. The waist guns were moved to a platform amidships, the galley beneath them; and a bulwark added between the galley and the bridge.

The standard displacement of the flush deck destroyers was , the length approximately , the beam measured approximately , and the draft approximately . A typical flush deck destroyer had a normal crew of 105 officers and men, and was armed with four 4-inch deck guns, one 3-inch anti-aircraft gun, 12 torpedo tubes, two stern-mounted depth charge racks, along with .50-caliber machine guns and small arms. The mass-produced classes also had four boilers providing steam to a pair of steam turbines, each of which drove a screw at a combined for a top speed of about . Destroyers quickly acquired the anti-submarine warfare mission against U-boats in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, being equipped with depth charge racks, hydrophones, and eventually Y-gun depth charge throwers.Friedman, pp. 35-37 However, it was very difficult to successfully attack a U-boat with World War I technology, and US anti-submarine forces only scored two kills in that war.

+ World War I ship classes of the United States Navy Class name Number of ships First ship laid down Last ship commissioned Notes References Photo 6 1916 1920 Called flush deckers due to lack of raised forecastle. 111 1917 1921 Called flush deckers due to lack of raised forecastle. Sometimes, Wickes class destroyers are split into four categories: Wickes class, 38 ships; Little class, 52 ships; Lamberton class, 11 ships; and Tattnall class, 10 ships. 156 1918 1922 Called flush deckers due to lack of raised forecastle.

Between the World Wars

After the end of World War I, there was little need for the destroyers built, so many were laid up, and fourteen had their torpedo tubes removed and were converted to minesweepers. On 8 September 1923, seven of the ships ran aground off the coast of California in the U.S. Navy's worst ever peacetime disaster.

In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty was signed by the United States, the British Empire, the Empire of Japan, France, and Italy. The treaty called for a freeze in the size and composition of the world's major navies, including the U.S. Navy, which ceased production of large capital ships and destroyers. The London Naval Treaty, a 1930 agreement between the same parties (except France), established total destroyer tonnage limits for the navies. The treaty also defined two categories: destroyer and destroyer leader; along with the maximum tonnage of each category, and the allowable ratio of one category to another.

In the London Naval Treaty, destroyers were established as "surface vessels of war the standard displacement (S.D.) of which does not exceed 1,850 tons and with a gun not above 5.1 inch caliber", as published in Ship’s Data for U.S. Naval Vessels. The “total completed tonnage not to be exceeded on December 31, 1936” was 150,000 S.D., but “not more than 16% of the allowed tonnage... shall be employed in vessels over 1,500 tons S.D.”. The new, higher limits rendered the existing flush-deckers obsolete, and the General Board soon moved to replace them. Since Japan was considered a probable adversary and was building destroyers through the 1920s, the General Board replaced the four-stackers with ships that could carry large quantities of fuel, ammunition, and supplies as needed to conduct operations across the vast Pacific Ocean.

The U.S. Navy resumed destroyer construction in 1932 with the . For the next seven years, the United States Navy constructed "1500 tonners", or "goldplaters". The goldplaters earned this name because of the "over–lavish facilities", which drew comment from seasoned destroyermen. The armament of the Farragut and Mahan class destroyers initially included five 5 inch dual purpose guns, a number later reduced to four due to stability problems and a desire for a larger torpedo armament. With the introduction of the dual purpose main guns, destroyers acquired an anti-aircraft mission. The 1500-ton , , , , and classes, the 1570-ton , and the 1850-ton and destroyer leaders were all laid down in quick succession following the original goldplaters.

The and es were similar in design to the Sims class, but had two stacks and a "split" or echeloned powerplant for extra endurance against torpedo attacks.

+ Interwar (World Wars I & II) ship classes of the United States Navy Class name Number of ships First ship laid down Last ship commissioned Notes References Photo 8 1932 1935 Known as "1500 tonners" due to their weight, or "goldplaters" due to the luxury as compared to previous classes. 8 1933 1937 The first of the 1850-ton "leaders". 18 1934 1937 The first 1500 tonners with high-pressure high-temperature propulsion machinery. The last two ships of the Mahan class are sometimes considered the Dunlap class. 4 1935 1938 Repeat 1500 tonners built by Bethlehem Steel. 8 1935 1937 Repeat 1500 tonners similar to the Mahan class. 5 1935 1939 Repeat 1850-ton leaders modified from the Porter-class design. 10 1936 1939 The last 1500 tonners. 12 1937 1940 The first U.S. Navy destroyer class unconstrained by treaty limitations. 66 1938 1943 A "split powerplant" modification of the Sims class. Gleaves class was originally divided into the (18 ships) and (48 Gleaves + 24 Benson) classes. 30 1938 1943 Bethlehem design similar to and built concurrent with the Gleaves class.

World War II

On 7 December 1941, the day the United States entered World War II, the United States Navy had 100 destroyers seven years old or newer. This number included 27 Benson and Gleaves-class destroyers. However, none were equipped with torpedoes comparable to the (then unknown) Type 93 torpedoes ("Long Lance torpedo"Boyne p. 127, 254) of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and only destroyer leaders had more than four main guns—inferior to the six guns on a Japanese destroyer (the first 24 ships of the Benson/Gleaves class were built with five guns, but excessive topweight led to one being removed).