Eight handsome ships of the Porter class were, in effect, enlarged versions of the Farraguts, with a better machinery arrangement and an increased main battery. As built, their tripod mainmasts, aft superstructure, and superfiring 5-inch twin mounts forward and aft gave

TORPEDO BATTERY Eight 21-inch: two quadruple centerline mounts abaft the stacks MAIN GUN BATTERY Eight single purpose 5-inch/38 in four enclosed twin base ring mounts ANTI-AIRCRAFT BATTERY 1938: Four .50 cal machine guns 1945: One 40mm twin; six 20mm singles

them a balanced, cruiser-like look.
   Heavy armament on an 1850-ton displacement meant twin 5-inch/38s; but no twin turret had been developed that could elevate above 35 degrees. Thus, the new class entered life with a main armament of eight single-purpose guns.
   Like the Farraguts, the Porters mounted eight 21-inch torpedo tubes in two centerline mounts. They could also carry eight torpedo reloads in special containers abeam the after stack—although reloading under way was awkward at best.
   Four ships were initially funded for FY 1934, but two months after Franklin D. Roosevelt became president, he signed the depression-relied National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which funded eight ships (plus sixteen Mahans, four cruisers and carriers Yorktown and Enterprise).
   McDougal, Winslow and Moffett operated in the Atlantic throughout World War II while in the Pacific, Phelps, Selfridge, Porter and Balch entered the war as flagships of DesRons 1, 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Phelps and Selfridge were at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941.
   Balch screened Enterprise during the Tokyo Raid of April 1942. The next month, Phelps was at the Battle of the Coral Sea, where she helped scuttle Lexington. Both were at Midway and at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.
   Porter was torpedoed and lost at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October 1942; Selfridge was torpedoed but saved in the night action at Vella Lavella a year later. Phelps was damaged by shore battery fire off Saipan in June 1944.
   Clark served in the Pacific until December 1942, then was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone and ended her wartime career in the Atlantic.
   The others served out the war without further loss and, except for McDougal and Winslow, were scrapped soon thereafter.