USS Fletcher commissioned in June 1942 before many Gleaves-class ships that had already been authorized. The 2,000-ton Fletcher offered greater Pacific utility and could cover about 5,500 nautical miles at 15 knots, a faster cruising condition than the ranges usually quoted for its predecessors. Expanding yards concentrated on that wartime design while established facilities remained full of earlier orders. The United States had effectively exhausted its available industrial capacity and needed about five years to clear the authorized backlog. A low-rate interwar programme could not have preserved every wartime facility, but it could have maintained more slips, trained labour, and supplier knowledge from which to expand. Growing from several active yards is easier than recreating an industry from near inactivity. By the 1938-1943 backlog, much of the shipbuilding capability behind the World War I surge had decayed through inactivity.
Chapter · 2:27:33-2:34:41
Fletcher production exposed the five-year destroyer backlog
Larger Fletcher-class ships began completing before the last Gleaves because new and expanding yards prioritized the more useful Pacific design while older facilities worked through their backlog.