U.S.S. Allen M. Sumner DD-692
Ship Specifications

Important Dates
Builder: Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Design Firm: Gibbs & Cox
Original design concepts: October 1941
Design approved: May 11, 1942
Sumner ordered: August 7, 1942
Contract price: $6,250,000.00
Laid down: July 7, 1943
Launched: December 15, 1943
Commissioned: 1610Z January 26, 1944
FRAM II: 17 May 1961 - 2 Jan 1962 at Charleston, South Carolina
Variable Depth Sonar (VDS) installation: Winter 1962 at Charleston, South Carolina
Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter (DASH) installation: May 1966 at Norfolk, Virginia and removed in March 1971
Naval Reserve Training Vessel: July 1, 1971 at Baltimore, Maryland
Decommissioned: August 15, 1973
Sold for scrap: October 16, 1974 to Union Minerals & Alloy Co.
Sale price: $163,132.00
Scrapped at the former Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey facility

Identifiers

Call Sign: NHSO
Unit Identifier Code (UIC): 04292
Voice Call Sign: Caboose (circa 1945), Tuneful (circa 1950-1953), Road Block (circa 1967)

Hull Data
Displacement: Design-2,890 tons  ¤ Standard-2,200 ¤ Full load-3,315 tons
Dimensions: Length overall-376' 2 1/4" ¤ Waterline length-369' 0" ¤ Extreme beam-40' 11 7/8" ¤ Design Waterline-13' 1 1/8"
Draft/Loading: Design-13' 0" ¤ Mean-14' 5" ¤ Maximum-15' 8" ¤ Tons/inch immersion-27
Complement: 20 officers and 325 enlisted, 270 during Vietnam deployment
Berths (1968): Division Commander - 1 ¤ Captain - 1 ¤ Sea Cabin - 1 ¤  Wardroom - 17
C.P.O. (Chiefs) - 18 ¤ Crew - 258
with 245 TR Lockers, 68 B-1 Lockers and 10 B-2 Lockers
Small Boats (1968): 26' Motor Whale Boat (capacity 22) ¤ 21 CO2 Life Boats (capacity 15 each, 315 total)
Heights above Design Water Line (1968): Top of Radar Platform on Mast-69' 9"
Masthead Light 68' 7 7/8" ¤ Range Light 93' 6 7/8" ¤ Side Light (P&S) 29' 9 5/8"
Aft Anchor Light 16' 2 1/8" ¤ Stern Light 15' 0 5/8" ¤ Pilot House Top 37' 5 5/8"
Navigating Bridge 29' 1 5/8" ¤ Superstructure Deck 20' 11 7/8" ¤ Superstructure Deck 9' 6 1/8"
Truck Light 97' 11 7/8"

Machinery Data
Boilers: (4 Babcock & Wilcox) Pressure-565 psi Temperature-850° F
Turbine sets: (2 Westinghouse) High pressure-23,000 hp at 5676 rpm
Cruising-1,000hp at 10,101rpm ¤ Low-pressure ahead 6,000hp at 4,780rpm ¤ Low-pressure astern 6,000hp at 2,571rpm
Reduction gears: (2 DeLaval locked-train double-reduction) High-pressure ratio 16.217:1rpm
Cruising ratio-28.860:1rpm ¤ Low-pressure ahead ratio 11.794:1rpm ¤ Low-pressure astern ratio 11.794:1rpm
Shafts: 2 with 350rpm and 60,000 shaft horsepower
Speed at standard displacement: 36.5 knots
Propellers: 2 four-bladed 12' 0" diameter 12' 11" pitch
Rudders: 2 semibalanced, streamlined with projected area-304sqft each (approx.)
Generators: 2 400KW AC/50KW DC and 2 100KW AC
Fuel capacity: Fuel oil-3,293 barrels ¤ Diesel oil-167 barrels ¤ JP5-21.3 tons
Distilling plants: 2 double-effect evaporators ¤ Main-12,000 gallons day ¤ Secondary-4,000 gallons day

Combat Information Center

Compartmental Listing and Plans

Electronic Sensor Systems

Engineering Watch Log Forms

Machinery Views and Data

Ship's Manuals

Weapons Systems
Gun Battery: 3 5in/38 twin mounts ¤ 2 quad (3 in 1945) & 2 dual 40MM mounts ¤ 10 single 20mm mounts
in 1952's overhaul 2 twin 3in/50 with 40MM and 20MM removed, 3in/50's removed during FRAM II
Torpedo Tube Battery: 1 MK14 quintuple mount ¤ 1 MK15 Quintuple mount that was replaced in 1945 with a quad 40mm mount
FRAM II replaced everything with 2 MK 25 single tube (removed 1968) ¤ 2 MK32 triple tube ¤ Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter
Depth Charge Projector Battery: 2 MK9 Depth charge tracks ¤ 6 MK6 k-guns
in 50's added 2 MK10/11 Hedgehog mounts then in FRAM II only Hedgehog mounts retained

Electronic Sensor Systems
Radar: Air search SC/SR, 1950 updated to SPS6, 1960 updated to SPS40
Surface search SG, 1946 updated to SG6, 1953 updated to SPS-10
Sonar: QGA upgraded to SQS-4 during FRAM II, VDS installed in 1962
ESM/ECM: installation and types of these systems are yet to be identified

The SUMNER above decks was a maze of electronics and antennas.  To simplify your understanding simply click
on the photo below and view the Navy's chart on SUMNER in the 1960's

General Class Data

The propelling machinery is of the geared turbine type, of modified design based on experience gained by the Navy Department and by the turbine and gear manufacturers in the production of machinery for the multiple ship (DD445 Class) program. Turbines are three cylinder type, one cruising, one high pressure and one low pressure. An astern element is incorporated in each end of the low pressure turbine. The cruising turbine with single reduction gear is attached to the forward end of the high pressure turbine rotor shaft. (To expedite production of destroyers, the cruising turbine and its reduction gear were omitted from some of the vessels when first built.) the turbines were built by General Electric, Westinghouse and Allis-Chalmers. The main reduction gears are of the locked train, double reduction type. The main and cruising reduction gears were manufactured by DeLaval, Westinghouse and Falk. The four boilers are of the divided furnace, air encased, single uptake type, and are fitted with extended surface economizers of the aluminum gill type. The boilers were built by Babcock & Wilcox and Foster Wheeler, and the economizers by Foster Wheeler. The feed system is the closed type with a deaerating feed heater. Circulating water for the condensers is supplied by scoops, with turbine driven circulating pumps for low speed, standby and astern operation. Feed system pumps, lubricating oil pumps, fuel oil pumps and miscellaneous equipment were built be several manufacturers to insure that production of vital components was spread over widely separated sections of the country. The electric plant, designed for split plant operation, consists of generators and associated switchboards, located one forward and one aft, with suitable bus tie connections. The connected load of 1,323 KW is divided as follows: machinery 564 KW, hull 391 KW and ordnance 368 KW. Two emergency switchboards are provided, one for each generator. Automatic starting of the emergency generators and transfer of vital circuits occur upon failure of main power. Power plant switchboards are of the dead front type and are equipped with circuit breakers having automatic trip-free devices. The 120 volt A.C. lighting system is fed, by means of transformers, from the 450 volt, A.C. supply, and is divided into three sections: general, battle and emergency. Lighting system connected load is 148 KW. Interior communications include mechanical and electrical signal and alarm systems, as well as telephones and voice tubes. Additional systems  provided are: underwater sound, radio, fire control, gyro compass, dead reckoning tracer, sound motion picture and salinity indicator.

Thanks to Don Cavanaugh who sent us the Class overview.

The primary data source used in this compilation was Robert F. Sumrall's book SUMNER-GEARING-CLASS DESTROYERS: Their Design, Weapons, and Equipment (Naval Institute Press, 1995, ISBN 1-55750-786-4).  This is an excellent publication that belongs in the library of anyone with an interest in the evolution of United States Navy destroyers during the twentieth century.  The book is filled with photographs and drawings along with an authoritative and in-depth narrative. It is currently available from Tin Can Sailors..