The U.S. Navy built eighteen Mahan-class destroyers and lost six of them in combat. The class is credited with hard service early in the war despite receiving relatively little attention. Alfred Thayer Mahan is recalled for making the case for an American battle fleet and for properly funding the armed forces. The irony is that a class of destroyers, rather than capital ships, carried his name.
Notable Point · 43:30-44:08
Why a destroyer class carried Mahan's name
The Mahan class's early-war service leads to the irony of naming destroyers for a theorist associated with the American battle fleet.