Carpenter Class Destroyers
Originally built as "Gearing Class" Destroyers,

Eight of this class were converted from DDs to Carpenter Class DDKs in April 1949. This program began when the Carpenter was moved to Newport News, Virginia from Consolidated Steel, Orange, Texas and completed with the Robert A. Owens completed at Bath, Maine, as Hunter-Killer Destroyers by mid December 1949. Another six ships were completed under the 1949 program at the Mare Island Navy yard resulting in a total of eight Carpenter Class ships rated as DDKs until March 4, 1950, when the DDE and DDK types merged. All eight vessels were reclassified as DD on June 30, 1962.

  These DDK ships were completed and converted from the former Gearing class DD in order to form groups for the purpose of long and short-range interception of submarines before they could attack convoys. This DDK conversion consisted of equipment specifically designed to locate enemy submarines, track and destroy them which consisted of the Mk 100 Underwater Fire control system to coordinate the firing of the MK 23 torpedo launchers. Torpedo storage consisted of 20, Mk 35 or Mk 37 homing torpedoes. The Mk-56 fire control system controlled the  MK 15 trainable Hedgehog weapons projector (Weapon B) which was installed where usually the second forward 5-inch mount would be located (mount 52) on a standard GEARING.
   These ships were eventually equipped with the MK 108 Weapon A which fired a fast-sinking 250-lb charge approximately 1000 yards. Combined with the latest radar of the time, the CARPENTER class ships had the highest Anti-Submarine warfare (ASW) capability of any destroyer class prior to FRAM .  While Hedgehog was eventually removed prior to FRAM as Weapon A was more effective, the CARPENTER class ships set the strategy for greater stand-off weapons deployment which would be expanded in the FRAM program.


CARPENTER CLASS DESTROYERS
Name of Ship
Hull No.
Builder
Launched
Stricken Date
FRED T. BERRY             DD 858                 Bethlehem Steel, San Pedro               28 Jan 1945                15 Sept. 1970
CARPENTER                  DD 825                      Consolidated Steel/
                                                                    completed by Newport News                 30  Dec. 1945              20 Feb. 1981
Thank You  NavSource Online: Destroyer Photo Archive
HARWOOD                     DD 861                 Bethlehem Steel, San Pedro               24  May 1945                1 Feb. 1973
KEPPLER                      DD 765              Bethlehem Steel, San Francisco           24 June 1946                1 July 1972
McCAFFERY                 DD 860                 Bethlehem Steel, San Pedro              12 April 1945                 30 Sept. 1973
NORRIS                        DD 859                 Bethlehem Steel, San Pedro               25 Feb 1945                    1 Feb. 1974
ROBERT A. OWENS       DD 827                  Bath Iron Works, Bath ME                 15 July 1946                   6 Aug. 1987
LLOYD THOMAS          DD764                   Bethlehem Steel, San Francisco         5 Oct 1945                      12 Oct. 1973

Carpenter Class Destroyers