 The ships had a median displacement of 1 @,@ 050 long tons ( 1 @,@ 070 t ) , were just over 305 feet ( 93 m ) in length , and had a beam of about 31 feet ( 9 @.@ 4 m ) . All of the ships had two direct @-@ drive steam turbines and a combination of other engines for cruising at speeds less than 15 knots ( 28 km / h ) . All of the ships were designed for a maximum speed of 29 knots ( 54 km / h ) . As built , they were armed with four 4 @-@ inch ( 102 mm ) guns and had four twin 21 @-@ inch torpedo tubes with a load of eight torpedoes , but all were later equipped with depth charges . The ships were built by four private American shipyards — Bath Iron Works , Fore River Shipbuilding Company , New York Shipbuilding Corporation , and William Cramp and Sons — and were laid down between September and November 1913 ; launched between April 1914 and February 1915 ; and commissioned into the U.S. Navy between June 1914 and August 1915 . 
