Overview and historical setting
The Cannon class was a diesel-electric long-hull destroyer-escort family built for convoy protection and antisubmarine warfare and distributed among several Allied navies during the war.
The class belongs to the history of destroyer escorts and served during World War II. Destroyer escorts traded some speed and offensive weight for range, economy, and specialized escort work. Their value came from protecting convoys and task groups, detecting submarines, and maintaining a persistent presence across long sea lanes. For Cannon class, the documented mission set included protection of merchant and naval convoys, anti-submarine warfare, and long-range escort duty.
Development and design
The design retained the long-hull destroyer-escort arrangement while using diesel-electric machinery. Seventy-two completed ships are documented; cancelled contracts are distinguished from completed ships. The program chronology records design work beginning in 1942, construction beginning in 1942, and the documented construction period ending in 1944. Program totals list 116 planned, 116 ordered, 72 laid down, 72 completed, and 44 cancelled. These dates and totals distinguish the design program from the number of ships that were actually completed and entered service.
The design evidence for Cannon class identifies destroyer escort, world war ii, and lend lease and protection of merchant and naval convoys, anti-submarine warfare, and long-range escort duty. These features connect the class's technical arrangement to the work it was expected to perform for United States Navy. Later refits, revised sensors, new weapons, and changes in doctrine could alter the practical capabilities of individual members without changing their class identity.
Technical character
The As completed configuration is presented as the as-completed configuration. Its listed characteristics include displacement 1,260 metric ton (standard), length 93.3 m, beam 11.0 m, and draft 3.5 m. The recorded armament is 3 × 76 mm/50 dual-purpose guns; 40 mm and 20 mm AA; 3 × 533 mm torpedo tubes; Hedgehog; depth charges. The figures describe one documented state and may not apply unchanged throughout the subject's service life.
Technical data for Cannon class is most useful when tied to a date and mission. Displacement changed with fuel, ammunition, electronics, weapons, and later modifications; speed and range depended on operating conditions; and sensors or armament could vary substantially between members and periods of service.
Ships of the class
The documented roster contains 72 members. These include USS Gandy (DE-764), USS Acree (DE-167), Babitonga (Be 7, DE-101), USS Amick (DE-168), USS Atherton (DE-169), USS Baker (DE-190), USS Bangust (DE-739), USS Baron (DE-166), USS Booth (DE-170), and USS Bostwick (DE-103), with 62 additional documented members. The available sources support this as the complete class roster.
Individual ship histories are needed to show how a common design diverged through construction differences, refits, damage, transfers, new assignments, and final disposition. For a ship-level view of the class in service, see USS Slater, whose profile follows the evidence available for one member of Cannon class.
Service history
Sixty-six completed ships entered U.S. Navy service, eight of them transferring to Brazil during the war. Six additional hulls entered Free French service directly. These changes of flag are presented as successive stages in the ships’ service histories. The shared design created a common starting point, while individual ships could accumulate different deployments, combat damage, modernization work, transfers, and end states.
Historical significance
The class shows the wartime destroyer-escort program as an Allied production system rather than a U.S.-only fleet, with U.S., Brazilian, and Free French service linked through the service histories of the same ships. Its significance is best assessed through the relationship between mission, technical choices, production scale, and the service experience of its members.
For Cannon class, the most useful points of comparison are the requirement for protection of merchant and naval convoys, anti-submarine warfare, and long-range escort duty, the use of destroyer escort, world war ii, and lend lease, and a program recorded as 116 planned, 116 ordered, 72 laid down, 72 completed, and 44 cancelled. Those factors help explain what the class offered United States Navy, how it differed from predecessors or contemporaries, and why ships built to the same design could still have different careers.
Understanding Cannon class across time requires separating the design as approved, the configuration in which individual ships entered service, and later changes made after operational experience. For United States Navy, that distinction matters because a refit could alter weapons, sensors, aviation facilities, command arrangements, or mission without creating a new class. The class history defines the common baseline; dated ship histories show how each member changed within it.
Ships in this class
Showing 72 recorded class members.
- Algérien
- Babitonga
- Baependi
- Bauru
- Beberibe
- Benevente
- Bertioga
- Bocaina
- Bracui
- Hova
- Marocain
- Somali
- Sénégalais
- Tunisien
- USS Acree
- USS Amick
- USS Atherton
- USS Baker
- USS Bangust
- USS Baron
- USS Booth
- USS Bostwick
- USS Breeman
- USS Bright
- USS Bronstein
- USS Burrows
- USS Carroll
- USS Carter
- USS Cates
- USS Clarence L. Evans
- USS Coffman
- USS Cooner
- USS Earl K. Olsen
- USS Ebert
- USS Eisner
- USS Eldridge
- USS Gandy
- USS Garfield Thomas
- USS Gustafson
- USS Hemminger
- USS Hilbert
- USS Kyne
- USS Lamons
- USS Levy
- USS McClelland
- USS McConnell
- USS Micka
- USS Muir
- USS Neal A. Scott
- USS O'Neill
- USS Osterhaus
- USS Oswald
- USS Parks
- USS Riddle
- USS Rinehart
- USS Roberts
- USS Roche
- USS Samuel S. Miles
- USS Slater
- USS Snyder
- USS Stern
- USS Straub
- USS Sutton
- USS Swearer
- USS Thomas
- USS Thornhill
- USS Tills
- USS Trumpeter
- USS Waterman
- USS Weaver
- USS Wesson
- USS Wingfield
Sources and further reading
- Cannon class destroyer escorts — United States Navy ↗uboat.net · accessed 2026-09-19
- Cannon class destroyer escorts — all Allied services ↗uboat.net · accessed 2026-09-19