Claxton was fitted with the original high, round bridge carried over from the Sims class. Like other 2100-ton Fletcher-class destroyers completed at Orange in late 1943, specifications for Claxton, were the same as first-launched Aulick:

Length Overall: 376' 5½"
Extreme Beam: 39' 8"
Normal Displacement: 2,050 long tons
Draft: Light: 8' 1"; Mean: 13' 5" Deep: 22’8”
Designed Complement: Officers, 34; Enlisted, 295
Designed Shaft Horsepower: 60,000
Designed Speed: 36 knots
Screws: Two
Rudder: One
Stacks: Two
Tactical diameter: 950 yards at 30 knots
Endurance: 4,800 nautical miles at 15 knots.

   Claxton’s initial armament was that of a typical 1942-43 high-bridge Fletcher:-class destroyer: five 5-inch guns in single mounts, two 40mm twin Bofors (one between the 53 and 54 mounts and one on the fantail), four single 20mm Oerlinons (two forward and two in the waist) plus ten 21-inch torpedo tubes in quintuple mounts and depth charges, giving her a typical 1942-43 armament for an early high-bridge Fletcher:

Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 4 x 40mm Bofors in five twin mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 4 x 20mm Oerlikon in single mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 10 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges

   In common with a few other 2100-tonners, her electronics included SA air search radar as follows:

Radar: SA (air search) and SG (surface search), Mk 37 (fire control)
Sonar: QC

   In February 1943, Claxton was modified, of a the first Fletchers fitted with the typical mid-1943 armament via removal of the 40mm twin Bofors from the fantail and the addition of two twins in elevated gun tubs, one on each side of the after stack. The “sky top” 40mm between the 53 and 54 mounts was retained. She also added a 20mm single Bofors on an elevated platform forward of the bridge and two more in the waist:

Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 6 x 40mm Bofors in five twin mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 7 x 20mm Oerlikon in single mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 10 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges

   SC air search radar replaced the SA, giving her more typical electronics:

Radar: SC (air search) and SG (surface search), Mk 37 (fire control)
Sonar: QC

   Claxton was modified again in 1944 to carry two more 40mm twin mounts forward of the bridge—replacing the 20mm single mounts—in common with 157 of 166 Fletchers active in 1943–44 She also carried three 20mm on the fantail, retaining her total of seven:

Primary: 5 x 5-inch/38 cal. in five single mounts
Long-range anti-aircraft: 10 x 40mm Bofors in five twin mounts
Short-range anti-aircraft: 7 x 20mm Oerlikon in single mounts
Torpedo Tubes: 10 x 21-inch in two quintuple mounts
ASW: 2 racks for 600-lb. charges; 6 “K”-guns for 300-lb. charges

   At this time, she also received a “walk-around” platform connecting the bridge wings forward of the pilot house, possibly the only high-bridge 2100-tonner modified in this manner.