A 27-minute mid-1960s roundup of destroyers and their roles in war and peace, produced by the U.S. Navy.
One of the last Fletcher-class destroyers, Preston, is featured in the opening titles.
In 1966, when the film was produced, the Navy was decommissioning hundreds of obsolete World War II-era destroyers, and wanted to make the case for building a new generation. At the time, submarines and aircraft carriers were considered priorities for federal funds.
The Navy never built any nuclear-powered destroyers. That meant that conventionally powered destroyers would have difficulty keeping up with nuclear powered aircraft carriers and guided missile cruisers, which did not need to be refueled. However, by the 1980s the Navy’s few nuclear-powered cruisers proved to be too expensive and troubleome, making less expensive conventionally powered destroyers more viable.