* Gridley class - 4, Benham class - 3 boilers. ** Armament as during the Battle of Midway (June 1942).

The Gridley and Benham classes destroyers introduced the next advance in machinery among the 1,500-tonners. The ships retained the basic hull of the previous Mahan class but featured an advanced powerplant with higher-pressure boilers, and a single stack to increase deck space for the heaviest torpedo battery ever among U.S. destroyers, reflecting an increased emphasis on torpedo tactics in vogue at the time they were designed.

The Gridleys and Benhams were armed with as many as sixteen 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes in four quadruple mounts—two on each side of the weather deck, fitted abaft the stack—but to do so, they sacrificed the midships 5 in (127 mm) dual-purpose gun of the Mahan and Farragut classes, leaving a total of only four (the forward two shielded against the weather, the others open). The anti-aircraft armament initially consisted of four .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns, but by the beginning of World War II, they were replaced with six single .79 in (20 mm) Oerlikon autocannons. Anti-submarine armament consisted of two depth charge roller racks, was also reinforced with four K-type depth charge throwers.

One Gridley class destroyer (DD-401 Maury) and two Benham class (DD-397 Benham and DD-398 Ellet) took part in the Battle of Midway as a part of Task Force 16 Destroyer Screen (Task Group 16.4).