USS Norfolk combined a light-cruiser-sized hull with an anti-submarine hunter-killer role. One interpretation places the design closer to a postwar contre-torpilleur, or heavy destroyer, than to a conventional prewar American destroyer. That comparison concerns the ship's size and intended employment. Its 3-inch battery, Weapon Alpha ASW rocket launchers, and 21-inch torpedo tubes supported experimentation with postwar escort requirements. Norfolk served as a learning ship while the Navy worked out what its next destroyers should provide.
Notable Point · 9:18-10:58
Norfolk tests a postwar heavy-destroyer idea
Norfolk is interpreted as an experimental ASW hunter-killer closer to a French-style contre-torpilleur than to either a conventional US destroyer or a true cruiser.