USS Smith
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The Smith Class destroyers were the first ocean-going destroyers in the United States Navy, and the first to be driven by steam turbines instead of the reciprocating engines fitted in the earlier and much smaller sixteen torpedo boat destroyers ordered in 1898. The first three of the class were ordered under the Act of 29 June 1906 "to have the highest practical speed, and to cost, exclusive of armament, not to exceed seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars each". The remaining pair were ordered under the Act of 7 March 1907 "to have the highest practical speed, and to cost, exclusive of armament, not to exceed eight hundred thousand dollars each". All five ships were built using the basic Smith design. However, Flusser and Reid are sometimes considered to be Flusser-class ships. Also, since Flusser was completed first, some period documentation refers to the entire class as Flussers. Unlike the earlier 16 destroyers, these turbine-driven vessels were triple-screw, and all had two widely spaced pairs of funnels except for Smith (which had the first and fourth funnels separated from the middle pair). In 1916, all had their single torpedo tubes replaced by twin mounts while one 3-inch gun was removed. All of the ships served as convoy escorts in World War I, and several attacked U-boats. The latter four vessels were all sold in November 1919 following the end of World War I; Smith survived another two years as a bombing target until scrapped.
History for this ship not found
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