Editing Destroyer (section)

==Post-World War II==
[[File:ORP_Błyskawica_w_nowym_kamuflażu_-_02-01-2012.jpg|thumb|The [[Polish Navy|Polish]] destroyer {{ORP|Błyskawica}} is preserved as a [[museum ship]] in [[Gdynia]].]]
Some conventional destroyers completed in the late 1940s and 1950s were built on wartime experience. These vessels were significantly larger than wartime ships and had fully automatic main guns, unit machinery, radar, sonar, and antisubmarine weapons, such as the [[Squid (weapon)|squid mortar]]. Examples include the British {{sclass|Daring|destroyer (1949)|0}}, US {{sclass|Forrest Sherman|destroyer|0}}, and the Soviet {{sclass|Kotlin|destroyer|2}}s.

Some World War II–vintage ships were modernized for antisubmarine warfare, and to extend their service lives, to avoid having to build (expensive) brand-new ships. Examples include the US [[FRAM I]] programme and the British [[Type 15 frigate]]s converted from fleet destroyers.

The advent of [[surface-to-air missile]]s and [[surface-to-surface missile]]s, such as the [[Exocet]], in the early 1960s changed naval warfare. [[Guided missile destroyer]]s (DDG in the US Navy) were developed to carry these weapons and protect the fleet from air, submarine, and surface threats. Examples include the Soviet {{sclass|Kashin|destroyer|4}}, the British {{sclass2|County|destroyer|4}}, and the US {{sclass|Charles F. Adams|destroyer|4}}.

The 21st century destroyers tend to display features such as large, slab sides without complicated corners and crevices to keep the [[radar cross-section]] small, [[vertical launch system]]s to carry a large number of missiles at high readiness to fire, and [[helicopter]] flight decks and [[hangars]].