Pará-class destroyer (1959)

The Pará-class destroyer is a class of destroyers of the Brazilian Navy. Seven ships of the Fletcher-class destroyer were lent by the United States Navy and were in commission from 1959 until 1990.

Development
Parâ was commissioned as USS Guest (DD-472) on 15 December 1942, Paraíba was commissioned as USS Bennett on 9 February 1943, Paraná was commissioned as USS Cushing (DD-797) on 17 January 1944, Pernambuco was commissioned as USS Hailey on 30 September 1943, Piauí was commissioned as USS Lewis Hancock on 30 September 1943, Santa Catarina was commissioned as USS Irwin on 30 September 1943 and Maranhao was commissioned as USS Shields on 8 February 1945.

After World War II, they were in a mothball state, but were later handed over to Brazil based on the Brazil-US Ship Loan Agreement. The ships took part in the Lobster War, in the 1960s, while escorting the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais. All 7 ships were delivered in batches of 2 at a time, thus the ships having different armaments and configurations.