The ''Robert H. Smith'' class of destroyer minelayers was built by the United States during World War II. The class was named for naval officer Robert H. Smith (naval officer), Robert H. Smith. These vessels were all originally laid down as s and converted during construction in 1944. In that time the United States produced twelve ''Robert H. Smith''-class destroyer minelayers. Their original hull classification symbol, hull numbers were DD-735-40, 749-51, and 771-73. None of the ''Robert H. Smith''-class vessels ever laid a Naval mine, mine in wartime, though they were frequently employed in minesweeping. Minelayers did not carry torpedo tubes. Otherwise they were used interchangeably with other destroyer types. As radar pickets at Battle of Okinawa, Okinawa, ''Aaron Ward'', ''Lindsey'', and ''J. William Ditter'' were damaged by ''kamikazes'', and ''Shea'' by a Baka bomb.Silverstone, p. 212 Five of the class served actively in the 1950s, but all survivors were reserve fleet, mothballed by the end of the decade and were disposed of in the 1970s. None of this class received Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization, FRAM conversions.

Ships in class

References

Sources

* Friedman, Norman "US Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History (Revised Edition)", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis:2004, . * Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946'', Conway Maritime Press, 1980. . * Silverstone, Paul H., ''U.S. Warships of World War II'' (Ian Allan, 1965),

External links

Robert H. Smith-class destroyer minelayers in World War II

{{US Navy navbox Destroyer classes Robert H. Smith-class destroyers, World War II destroyers of the United States,