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The most versatile ships in the U.S. Navy are profiled in
U.S. News Video: The Destroyers, which makes good use of both current film and gritty archival footage. Small and fast, modern destroyers bristle with a startling array of high-tech weaponry, and their constant adaptation is illustrated with a trip back through time to the first destroyer, the U.S.S.
Bainbridge, which was launched in 1902 to counter the perceived threat of torpedo boats. During World War I, destroyers were shown to be effective in fighting U-boats, but it was really in World War II that the ships were utilized to their full potential. Archival films of destroyers moving to within 800 yards of Omaha Beach to engage in gunnery duels with Nazi artillerists and footage of destroyers taking on much larger Japanese ships in Leyte Gulf show dramatically how the relatively little ships contributed mightily to America's war effort. The video features a lengthy segment illustrating the role destroyers played fighting the intense menace of Japanese kamikaze attacks and finishes with a look at how destroyers with missile launchers played a vital role in the Gulf War. This video does suffer from some slow moments, but it provides a cogent look at the fast ships that constitute the backbone of the modern navy.
--Robert J. McNamara
