The original sixteen ships of the Mahan class, funded in 1933, were improved versions of the Farragut design in which the No. 3 5-inch gun was moved to the after deckhouse to make room for 12 torpedo tubes—one quadruple mount on the centerline between the stacks and

TORPEDO BATTERY Twelve 21-inch: l One quadruple centerline mount between the stacks l One quadruple wing mount on each side of the main deck abaft the after stack MAIN GUN BATTERY Four dual purpose 5-inch/38: l Two forward in shielded pedestal mounts (Dunlap and Fanning only: enclosed base ring mounts) l Two aft in open pedestal mounts ANTI-AIRCRAFT BATTERY 1938: Four .50 cal machine guns 1945: One 40mm twin; six 20mm singles

one on each side abaft the second stack, for an 8-tube broadside.
   As built, the Mahans also had a tripod foremast and a pole mainmast, giving them a silhouette similar to the Porter-class leaders whose construction immediately preceded them. Designed by Gibbs & Cox, they incorporated a new generation of destroyer machinery, which combined increases in pressure and temperature with a new type of lightweight, fast-running turbine, which was both simpler and more efficient than that of the Farraguts and proved highly reliable in service.
   The US Navy eventually commissioned twenty-six destroyers with this machinery: the sixteen original Mahans plus the slightly-modified Dunlap and Fanning and eight ships of the Bagley class. (Three Mahans, with only four 5-inch mounts and 4 torpedo tubes, were also built for the Brazilian Navy.)
   Cassin and Downes were completely destroyed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but some of their equipment were salvaged and installed in new hulls, retaining their old numbers and names. Shaw’s bow was also demolished, but a temporary one was fitted and she steamed to the West Coast for reconstruction.
   All ships screened carriers early in the war. Five were lost in the Solomon Islands campaign: Tucker in 1942, snagged by an American minefield off Espiritu Santo in the prelude to the Guadalcanal campaign; Cushing, first in line during the 12–13 November 1942 Battle of Guadalcanal, where she drew concentrated enemy fire; and Preston, with Benham and Walke, two nights later as part of Admiral Lee’s battleship force at Second Guadalcanal, an action which only Gwin among destroyers survived.
   Drayton and Perkins were in the van with Fletcher and Maury, and Lamson was in the rear with Lardner at Tassafaronga, 30 November. Unlucky Perkins was run over by a troopship and lost the following year.
   The last two losses—Mahan and Reid—occurred in the Philippines, December 1944. All remaining ships were scrapped between 1946 and 1948.