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Smith-class destroyer
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<p>The <i>Smith</i>-class destroyers were the first ocean-going torpedo-boat <a href="/facts/Destroyer/bkYL7bI8">destroyers</a> in the <a href="/facts/United_States_Navy/xYK0fUou">United States Navy</a>, and the first to be driven by <a href="/facts/Steam_turbine/scacVXsB">steam turbines</a> instead of the <a href="/facts/Triple-expansion_engine/x2F844qg">reciprocating engines</a> fitted in the sixteen earlier and much smaller torpedo-boat destroyers ordered under the Act of 4 May 1898. <a href="/facts/USS_Flusser_(DD-20)/6mysF12K"><i>Flusser</i></a> and <a href="/facts/USS_Reid_(DD-21)/nID7rdn6"><i>Reid</i></a> are sometimes considered to be <i>Flusser</i>-class ships. Also, since <i>Flusser</i> was completed first, some period documentation refers to the entire class as <i>Flusser</i>s. </p><p>The first three of the class were ordered under the Act of 29 June 1906 "to have the highest practical speed, and to cost, exclusive of armament, not to exceed seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars each". The remaining pair were ordered under the Act of 7 March 1907 "to have the highest practical speed, and to cost, exclusive of armament, not to exceed eight hundred thousand dollars each". </p><p>All of the ships served as <a href="/facts/U-boat_Campaign_(World_War_I)/2Ifsfslj">convoy escorts</a> in <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a>, and several attacked <a href="/facts/U-boat/GgjbMzMT">U-boats</a>. The latter four vessels were all sold in November 1919 following the end of World War I; <i>Smith</i> survived another two years as a bombing target until scrapped. </p>