Destroyers

DE's or Destroyer Escorts were the Escort Ships of WW1. One kind of destroyer was the Wickes-class destroyer, a series of ships manufactured by the US. However only a small number of these ships fought in WW1 because of the USA's late joining of the war. Because of this, not a single Wickes-class destroyer was destroyed in WW1. In 1916 the US realized just how powerful the Germans U-Boats were and because of this they built 111 destroyers in an effort to defeat the Germans on that front.

FUN FACT: 15 of these destroyers were launched on July 4th.