Overview and historical setting
The Evarts class was the first mass-produced U.S. Destroyer-escort design, a compact diesel-electric convoy escort created for rapid wartime construction and antisubmarine work.
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 Evarts class, the documented mission set included protection of merchant and naval convoys, anti-submarine warfare, and long-range escort duty.
Development and design
The short-hull design combined four diesel-generator sets with electric propulsion and a three-gun 3-inch battery. Ninety-seven completed ships are documented here; thirty-two entered Royal Navy service as part of the Captain class. The program chronology records design work beginning in 1941, construction beginning in 1942, and the documented construction period ending in 1944. Program totals list 105 planned, 105 ordered, 97 laid down, 97 completed, and 8 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 Evarts 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 1,158 metric ton (standard), length 88.2 m, beam 10.7 m, and draft 3.0 m. The recorded armament is 3 × 76 mm/50 dual-purpose guns; 20 mm AA; Hedgehog; depth-charge throwers and tracks. The figures describe one documented state and may not apply unchanged throughout the subject's service life.
Technical data for Evarts 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 97 members. These include USS Andres (DE-45), USS Bebas (DE-10), USS Brackett (DE-41), USS Brennan (DE-13), USS Burden R. Hastings (DE-19), USS Cabana (DE-260), USS Canfield (DE-262), USS Carlson (DE-9), USS Charles R. Greer (DE-23), and USS Cloues (DE-265), with 87 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 Evarts, whose profile follows the evidence available for one member of Evarts class.
Service history
Evarts-class ships escorted convoys and conducted antisubmarine operations in both U.S. And British service. Lend-Lease hulls retain their HMS identities on the same physical records, including Drury, which later briefly commissioned in the U.S. Navy after return. 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 established the production model for the American destroyer-escort program and illustrates how one design served multiple Allied navies through Lend-Lease. Its significance is best assessed through the relationship between mission, technical choices, production scale, and the service experience of its members.
For Evarts 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 105 planned, 105 ordered, 97 laid down, 97 completed, and 8 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 Evarts 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 97 recorded class members.
- HMS Bayntun
- HMS Bazely
- HMS Berry
- HMS Blackwood
- HMS Burges
- HMS Capel
- HMS Cooke
- HMS Dacres
- HMS Domett
- HMS Foley
- HMS Gardiner
- HMS Garlies
- HMS Goodall
- HMS Goodson
- HMS Gore
- HMS Gould
- HMS Grindall
- HMS Hoste
- HMS Inglis
- HMS Inman
- HMS Keats
- HMS Kempthorne
- HMS Kingsmill
- HMS Lawford
- HMS Lawson
- HMS Loring
- HMS Louis
- HMS Manners
- HMS Moorsom
- HMS Mounsey
- HMS Pasley
- USS Andres
- USS Austin
- USS Bebas
- USS Brackett
- USS Brennan
- USS Burden R. Hastings
- USS Cabana
- USS Canfield
- USS Carlson
- USS Charles R. Greer
- USS Cloues
- USS Connolly
- USS Crouter
- USS Crowley
- USS Decker
- USS Deede
- USS Dempsey
- USS Dionne
- USS Dobler
- USS Doherty
- USS Donaldson
- USS Doneff
- USS Drury
- USS Duffy
- USS Edgar G. Chase
- USS Edward C. Daly
- USS Eisele
- USS Elden
- USS Emery
- USS Engstrom
- USS Evarts
- USS Fair
- USS Finnegan
- USS Fleming
- USS Gilmore
- USS Greiner
- USS Griswold
- USS Halloran
- USS Harold C. Thomas
- USS John J. Powers
- USS John M. Bermingham
- USS Lake
- USS Le Hardy
- USS Lovering
- USS Lyman
- USS Manlove
- USS Martin
- USS Mason
- USS Mitchell
- USS O'Toole
- USS Rall
- USS Reynolds
- USS Sanders
- USS Sederstrom
- USS Seid
- USS Smartt
- USS Stadtfeld
- USS Steele
- USS Tisdale
- USS Walter S. Brown
- USS Whitman
- USS Wileman
- USS William C. Miller
- USS Wintle
- USS Wyffels
- USS Wyman
Sources and further reading
- Evarts (DE-5) ↗Naval History and Heritage Command · accessed 2026-09-19
- Evarts class destroyer escorts ↗uboat.net · accessed 2026-09-19
- Captain class frigates ↗uboat.net · accessed 2026-09-19