The new destroyer incorporated a 'seakeeping' hull based on American observations of Soviet practice. Earlier U.S. destroyer hull forms had been intended primarily to achieve high speed in calm water, but after World War II many American officers noted unhappily that foreign ships, both allied and Soviet, seemed to do better in rough weather. The new hull form was inspired by U.S. Navy studies of Soviet warship design. It had a wide transom flared on the sides and a V- (rather than the usual U-) form forward. The ship had a wider waterplane forward, harder bilges, and the point at which the keel began to rise was farther aft than usual. Extensive flare put volume higher rather than lower. This combination moved the center of flotation aft while the center of gravity stayed forward as in more conventional hulls. It was attractive because so many U.S. officers had seen Soviet warships that seemed to be better seakeepers than their own ships. It was widely accepted that the more flared hull would be more survivable, since waterplane area would increase quickly as the ship sank into the water. An incidental virtue not widely noted at the time was that a flared hull would have a reduced radar signature, since its sides would not form corner reflectors where they met the water. The new hull form, which also reflected U.S. ideas current from the early 1960s, was put together by the David Taylor model basin (NSRDC, the Naval Ship Research and Development Center).
