NARA photo 19-N-35340. Source: Naval Historical Center Photographic Section
Bath Iron Works hull numbers 190 and 191, the future USS Nicholas (left, background) and O’Bannon, under construction at Bath, Maine, in a progress photo, 1 January 1942.

The first shipyards to change over construction from Gleaves-class ships to Fletchers were Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Bath, ME and Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. in Kearny, NJ. Both yards customarily laid down ships on adjoining slipways in pairs. Thus Fletcher was laid down side-by-side with Radford at Kearny on 2 October 1941 and Jenkins and La Vallette followed on 27 November. But before this, Nicholas and O’Bannon, Bath hull numbers 190 and 191, had been laid down on 3 March 1941, followed by Chevalier and Strong on 30 April, then Taylor and De Haven by the end of September.
   O’Bannon was launched 11 April 1942 at Bath. Sponsored by Mrs. E. F. Kennedy, a descendant of Lt. O’Bannon, she was the second Fletcher-class destroyer built at Bath Iron Works, which eventually completed 31 of them before changing over production to Allen M. Sumner- and Gearing-class ships.