Limited to 1,500 tons standard displacement by the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930, the ships were laid down beginning in 1932 and were completed by 1935.

The impact of aircraft on naval warfare was reflected in their heavy dual-purpose main gun armament.

[4][5] Their larger size and improved habitability soon earned them the nickname of "goldplaters" from the crews of older destroyers.

[6] The list of desired improvements compiled from the operational experience of the earlier Wickes and Clemson classes was both long and comprehensive.

The previous classes were flush deck designs; while providing good hull strength, this proved to be wet in high seas.

Cruising range on both the Wickes and Clemson classes had been a constant affliction of commanders; the Clemsons had been built with wing tanks giving better range, but at the cost of having high mounted fuel oil on both sides—a decidedly vulnerable feature in a ship without an armored belt such as a destroyer.

"A court of inquiry after the loss concluded that [the] basic stability of the Farragut-class ships "is materially less than other destroyers.

[12] All ships were present at the attack on Pearl Harbor, where Monaghan sank a Japanese midget submarine.