What does the G stand for on a Naval Ship?

[Beth]

Steve and I were in traffic this morning and the car ahead of us had a plate surround that read USS Parsons DDG and a number.  What is the G mean?  We are assuming at least one of the Ds means a destoryer?

[quincannon]

Guided Missile Destroyer. Parsons was the man who assembled the A Bomb in flight that was dropped on Hiroshima.

USS Parsons was DDG 33, but she was originally as a conventionally armed destroyer (can't recall her number but it was in the 940's) and converted to a guided missile destroyer in the mid 1960's

DD is the designation for a conventionally armed destroyer of which we have none anymore. There were also DE's. DER's, DDE's, DDR's. DDK's. DMS's, DM's and even a designation that was never used but contemplated DC

[Beth]

Thanks, I knew you guys would know the answer. So what do all the other combinations mean?

[quincannon]

DE - Destroyer Escort, almost destroyer light, usually smaller, slower, less well armed, used for anti submarine and convoy escort work.

DER - A modified destroyer escort used on the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line to warn of impending bomber or missile attack on the US

DDE - A destroyer optimized for anti submarine work, and less capable of the traditional destroyer mission of Maid of All Work.

DDK - A short lived designation (maybe two years). It was supposed to be the killer, while a DDE was the hunter.

DDR - A conventional destroyer with a greatly increased electronic capability to detect aircraft approaching a given task force. The outgrowth of the Okinawa Campaign where we lost over fifty destroyers sunk or damaged by suicide aircraft. The type was dropped in the mid 1960's due to the fact that all newly constructed destroyers had this detection capability built in , so in effect, all destroyers had the DDR electronic sensor capability.

DMS - Destroyer minesweeper, A converted destroyer. The "Caine" of the book and movie was a DMS.

DM - Destroyer mine layer . Again a converted destroyer with a railroad installed on her decks from about midships aftward. Could lay 80 to 100 mines very quickly.

DC - Never used but standing for Destroyer Corvette. After WWII we retained about a hundred destroyers of the Benson and Gleaves/Livermore Classes. They were about 40 feet on average shorter than the Fletcher, Sumner, and Gearing Classes. They were not nearly as capable but still fairly young as ship life expanse goes. So a designation was created and plans drawn up to modify them in a national emergency. Their real advantage was that they were larger and faster than destroyer escorts, and submarines at the time were showing marked increase in underwater speed.

There was also the APD which were light transports converted from old destroyers of WWI vintage and destroyer escorts which we ended up ordering far too many of.

Then finally there were the AVD's which were again old WWI vintage destroyers refitted to act as tenders (support ships) for seaplane patrol bombers.

[Beth]

Thanks!