Remembering Pearl Harbor 83 Years Later

Hull Number: DD-452


Class: FLETCHER

FLETCHER Class

Data for USS Fletcher (DD-445) as of 1945


Length Overall: 376’ 5"

Beam: 39’ 7"

Draft: 13’ 9"

Standard Displacement: 2,050 tons

Full Load Displacement: 2,940 tons

Fuel capacity: 3,250 barrels

Armament:

Five 5″/38 caliber guns
Five 40mm twin anti-aircraft mounts
Two 21″ quintuple torpedo tubes

Complement:

20 Officers
309 Enlisted

Propulsion:

4 Boilers
2 General Electric Turbines: 60,000 horsepower

Highest speed on trials: 35.2 knots

Namesake: JOHN PERCIVAL

JOHN PERCIVAL

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, August 2015

John Percival, who was born in Barnstable, Mass. 3 April 1779, served in the Quasi War as a master’s mate and midshipman, and then entered the merchant service. He was impressed by the Portuguese and was sent to HMS Victory. When put in command of a Spanish prize, Percival took her to Madeira where he escaped to USS Washington. In 1809 he was assigned to Siren, part of the New York flotilla under Capt. Jacob Lewis. He served in the gunboat Yankee in 1812 when it captured HMS Eagle, tender of 74-gun HMS Poictiers. Percival joined Peacock 9 March 1814 and made three cruises capturing fourteen merchantmen and two warships, HMS Epervier and Nautilus. For his gallantry in the capture of HMS Epervier, he was promoted to Lieutenant and given the thanks of Congress. He died with the rank of Captain 7 September 1862 in Dorchester, Mass.


Disposition:

Was to have been experimental. Construction cancelled 01/07/1946.


USS PERCIVAL DD-452 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, August 2015

The second Percival (DD-452) was planned as an experimental destroyer with specifications very similar to those of the Fletcher-class ships, except that she was to have ultra-high pressure boilers. However, the Navy’s contract of 1 July 1940 with Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Kearny, N.J., for construction of Percival was cancelled 7 January 1946.