Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 4:13:17-4:16:56

Choosing a game destroyer for the US Navy in 1938

Somers offers the closest period fit, while Gearing, Forrest Sherman, and the game's Hull import different degrees of later technology.

Alternate HistoryDestroyersFiction USS HullForrest Sherman Class DestroyersGearing Class DestroyersLive Q&ASomers Class DestroyersUS NavyWorld Of Warships
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Question

How would replacing every US destroyer in 1938 with a top-tier later design change the war?

Short answer

Alex favours Somers for the closest period fit. The other game choices introduce later designs or fictional armament, so they imply different counterfactual fleets.

Notes

The choice matters because the game offers ships drawn from very different periods and design assumptions. Gearing is distinguished from Fletcher as the participants correct the proposed replacement for the four-stackers. Somers, described with four twin 5-inch mounts and twelve torpedo tubes, is favoured as the most period-appropriate option. The alternative Hull carries a fictional three-gun automatic 8-inch battery, while Forrest Sherman brings a postwar gun arrangement. The weapons shown by the game, including torpedo fittings, are not treated consistently as historical configurations.