Monaghan Class Destroyers

The Monaghan Class Destroyers were a virtual repeat of the previous Paulding class, but with Thornycroft boilers in place of the Normand boilers used in the previous class.

In 1909 the General Board took over responsibility for the detailed characteristics (but not the detailed design) of new warships. Very early on they were asked for their views on new destroyers, and because of a lack of time recommended a repeat of the Paulding class. In March 1909 Congress authorised five destroyers (DD-32 to DD-36) to be funded in Fiscal Year 1910, and in June 1910 another six were approved (DD-37 to DD-42, Fiscal Year 1911).

The Monaghan class ships were very similar to the Paulding class ships. They carried five 3in guns (one on the raised forecastle, two either side of the rear of the bridge structure, one between the rear funnel and the aft deckhouse and one on the stern) and three twin-tube 18in torpedo tubes (one between the aft gun and the aft deck house and two on either side of the rear funnel).

Thornycroft Water Tube Boiler, Paul Jones Class Destroyers

USS Jouett (DD-41) in 1918

Prisoners from U-58
on USS Fanning (DD-37)

USS Patterson (DD-36)
fitting out, 1911

USS Ammen (DD-34), New York Naval Review 1911

USS Walke (DD-34) undergoing repairs, March 1914

USS Trippe (DD-33)
leaving Queenstown,
December 1918

Construction of the eleven Monaghan ships was split between Newport News (DD-32 and DD-37), Bath (DD-33, DD-41, DD-42), Bethlehem's Fore River yard at Quincy (DD-34 and DD-39), New York Shipbuilders (DD-35 and DD-38) and Cramp (DD-36 and DD-40), which each of the five yards getting one ship in each  batch and Bath getting two in the FY 11 batch.

USS Walke (DD-34) had two screws, while the other ten had three screws. All had Parsons turbines and Thornycroft boilers, but the arrangement of funnels varied. The five ships built by Bath and New York Shipbuilding (DD-33, DD-35, DD-38, DD-41 and DD-42) had four funnels, while the Cramp (DD-36 and DD-40), Fore River (DD-34 and DD-39) and Newport News (DD-32 and DD-37) had three funnels, with the smoke stacks from the middle two boilers coming together.

DD-34 had two screws. The rest of the class had three screws. The ships built at Cramp (DD-36 and DD-40), Fore River (DD-34 and DD-39) and Newport News (DD-32 and DD-37) had three funnels. The ships built at Bath and New York Shipbuilding had four funnels. 

The Navy's own Dictionary of American Fighting Ships can't agree on the class of these ships, listing six as Monaghan class, three as Paulding class and two as Roe class.

During the First World War every member of the class took part in the anti-submarine campaign. Most members of the class served in European waters, from bases at Queenstown in southern Ireland or Brest in western France. The only exceptions were Patterson, which after a spell at Queenstown returned to the US to join a hunter-killer anti-submarine group, Henley which operated off the US East Coast and the Jouett, which was used to test submarine detection devices during the first half of 1918 before joining an anti-submarine group off the US East Coast.

After the end of the First World War the Monaghan ships were all retained (at the same time older coal fired destroyers were scrapped), but during 1919 they were all decommissioned. None came back into Naval service, but from 1924 eight members of the class (Monaghan (DD-32), Trippe (DD-33), Ammem (DD-35), Patterson (DD-36), Fanning (DD-37), Henley (DD-39), Beale (DD-40) and Jouett (DD-41)) served with the Coast Guard, as part of the prohibition-era 'Rum Patrol'. They were returned to the Navy in 1931 and decommissioned for a second time.

The entire class was broken up in 1935 in order to satisfy the terms of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

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