the class. One gun (No. 3) and one quad torpedo tube mount were removed, with another torpedo tube mount relocated to the centerline. It was determined that an underestimate by the Bureau of Engineering of the weight of a new machinery design was responsible, and that the Bureau of Construction and Repair did not have sufficient authority to detect or correct the error during the design process. Acting Secretary of the Navy Charles Edison proposed consolidation of the design divisions of the two bureaus. When the bureau chiefs could not agree on how to do this, he replaced both chiefs in September 1939. The consolidation into the new Bureau of Ships was finally effected by a law passed by Congress on 20 June 1940. Engineering The Sims class nearly duplicated the advanced machinery of the preceding Benham class, they were the last built with the boiler rooms adjacent forward and the engine rooms adjacent aft and therefore the last one-stack US destroyers. Steam pressure was (one reference says 565 psi), superheated to .Friedman, p. 469 Features that improved fuel economy included boiler economizers, double reduction gearing, and cruising turbines. The main turbines developed on Sims trials and were manufactured by Westinghouse.USS Sims and USS Hughes General Information Book with as-built data at Destroyer History Foundation Armament The Sims class introduced the advanced Mark 37 Gun Fire Control System.Friedman, p. 93 With a turret-mounted gun director as in previous systems, the Mark 37 system incorporated the Ford Mark 1 Fire Control Computer mounted in a plotting room deep in the hull, which enabled automatic aiming of guns against surface or air targets with firing solutions in near real-time.Naval Ordnance and Gunnery, Vol. 2, Chapter 25, AA Fire Control Systems The system would evolve and be used extensively to control most 5-inch guns on destroyers and larger ships, and remained in service on US ships until the 1970s. The class was completed with five 5-inch dual purpose guns (anti-surface and anti-aircraft (AA)); the two forward mounts and the aftermost mount were enclosed. The class proved to be top-heavy, and a quadruple torpedo mount and one 5-inch gun (No. 3) were removed by 1941. Early units were completed with 12 torpedo tubes in three quad mounts, one mounted centerline, the others port and starboard, while later ships were completed (and all eventually modified) with eight in two quad mounts, all on the centerline.