Bagley class destroyer

The "Bagley" class of destroyers was built by the United States. All eight ships were ordered and laid down in 1935 and subsequently completed in 1937. Their layout was based upon the "Gridley"-class destroyer design, but they retained the power plants of the "Mahan"-class destroyers, and thus had a lesser speed than the "Gridley"s. The "Bagley" class destroyers were readily distinguished visually by the external trunking of their boiler uptakes around their single stack.

All eight "Bagley" destroyers were present at the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, comprising Destroyer Squadron Four. They all served in the Pacific during World War II, with "Jarvis", "Blue", and "Henley" lost in combat. In 1944 "Mugford" suffered extensive damage from a kamikaze hit that put her out of combat for six months.

The remaining four "Bagley"s operated as Destroyer Squadron Six, with "Ralph Talbot" receiving a kamikaze hit off Okinawa. "Bagley" accepted the surrender of Japanese forces on Marcus Island. "Bagley", "Helm", and "Patterson" were decommissioned in 1945 and scrapped in 1947. "Mugford" and "Ralph Talbot", still in commission, were targets during the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb tests at Bikini atoll in 1946. Contaminated by radiation, they were scuttled in off Kwajalein in 1948.

Bagley class ships

External links

* [http://www.destroyerhistory.org/goldplater/bagleyclass.html "Bagley"-class destroyers] at [http://www.destroyerhistory.org/index.html Destroyer History Foundation]
* [http://www.destroyers.org/Class/cl-Bagley.htm Tin Can Sailors @ Destroyers.org - Bagley class destroyer]