American research tree -- photographic error

I was reviewing the battle characteristics of the L3, L4 and L5 destroyers earlier this evening, and discovered that the photograph used to illustrate the American L4 destroyers, the Fletcher class, is wrong.

The Fletchers were the most extensively produced destroyer class in naval history, with 175 commissioned during the war, followed by another 158 of the Sumner and Gearing classes, which were improved versions of the Fletcher-class design and were easily distinguished by their twin 5-inch main battery (the Fletchers had single 5-inch mounts). With over 300 of the very similar Fletchers, Sumners and Gearings built and in service, some serving in foreign navies into the 21st Century, they are a very recognizable design of the WWII era.

That said, the hull number 348 of the destroyer depicted in the photo is self-evidently that of the USS Farragut (DD-34, the lead ship of her class, which was launched and commissioned in 1934 -- eight years before the USS Fletcher (DD-445). I would like to claim that I was quick to recognize that the hull number was wrong, but what really caught my eye was the early 1930s configuration of the deck house, forecastle and bow -- and the fact that the Fletchers were flushed-decked for their entire length, unlike most of the 1930s destroyer designs of the U.S. Navy, a naval architecture characteristic carried over in U.S. destroyer designs for the next 60 years.

Bottom line: the photo is wrong, please replace it.

There should be plenty of public domain photos of the USS Fletcher and her sisters available online.