![]() ![]() The courage and dedication of destroyer men clearly transcended national boundaries. ![]() Destroyers occasionally operated alone, but more often they were formed into flotillas or squadrons, which would then jointly be assigned a task, such as to escort a convoy, screen a task force, or to attack an enemy surface force with torpedoes and gunfire.ĭestroyers of all the major sea powers were lost during the war in the course of what were essentially suicide charges at far more powerful enemy surface ships. ![]() Destroyers fought submarines, aircraft and surface actions against all other classes of warships, from battleships to MTB's. They were expected to put themselves at risk to protect their charges, whether merchant ships or heavy warships. They escorted convoys, provided air and gunfire support for larger and more vulnerable ships (such as troop transports and aircraft carriers), attacked superior enemy forces, bombarded invasion beaches well within the range of enemy shore batteries, scouted for their fleets and served as radar pickets far from the protection of friendly naval forces. That was perhaps inevitable, as destroyers were employed in many roles besides hunting torpedo boats and submarines, their original purposes.ĭestroyers were used to lay minefields outside of enemy harbors and to transport troops and supplies to beleaguered outposts in enemy controlled waters that were too dangerous for conventional transports to negotiate. ![]() They were the smallest, general purpose, ocean-going warships of the various blue water fleets and they often took heavy losses in action. Torpedo boat destroyers, destroyers, or (slang) tin cans served all of the major sea powers well during WW II. ![]()
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