U.S. DESTROYERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1937, Page 8

U.S. DESTROYERS.

PRESTON AND SMITH.

BERTHED AT DEVONPORT.

MANY SECRETS ON BOARD

Of air ehipfl of war, destroyers are at once the prettiest and the moet deadly-looking; and in the American vessels of that cla£S, the Preston and the Smith, which arrived,in Auckland this morning from Pago Pago, those outstanding characteristics of the destroyer are well maintained. Both »re brand-new vessels, equipped with every modem device to enable them to live up to their name as servants of destruction. Slim as racing whippets, they have a beam of onlv 35 feet to their length of 314 feet, ind they can attain a speed of 35 knots. Although they are equipped with five five-inch guns, their twelve deck torpedo tubes of new design are their most deadly armament. "Official Secrets List." Many of the "gadgets" aboard the Preston and Smith are still on what the British Admiralty calls "the official secrets list, and therefore cameras cannot l>e taken aboard. Some of their new weapons of destruction have not even been thoroughly tested yet—for instance, the two cliuttis on the stern of each vessel down which depth charges, metal canisters about as big as a threegallon keg, drop into the sea. to "pakaru" enemy submarines. Nor has either vessel ever been tested "on full throttle. ' The speed for which they were designed, 35 knots, has been attained on quite a lot less than the. maximum power which their engines can develop.

As they rounded North Head this morning, the Preston leading, they "looked their part" as destroyers, real convicted "killers" in fact, for each ship carries her number in large figures on her bows, the Preston being 379 and the Smith 378, as if they were already gaoled. Both vessels are named after naval heroes of the Civil War, but none of the officers aboard can tell what feat of courage justified the names of those two heroes being perpetuated. The American Navy, like the British "silent service," sticks to a sort of system in the naming of vessels, even when they are officially known as numliers, and any sister ships of the two now in Auckland will also be named after forgotten heroes of bygone maritime exploits. The Preston and the Smith are more than sister ships. They are, practically, twins. Their keels were laid in the naval yard at Mare island, California, in October. lfM.t. and they were launched in April of last year, after growing up side bv *ide. They were commissioned in October of last year, and are now on their first deep-sea cruise together. Lying one alongside the other at the naval base, they become "Siamese" twins.