The first four Porters were laid down in 1933 by New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey, and the next four in 1934 at Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts.

They were built in response to the large Fubuki-class destroyers that the Imperial Japanese Navy was building at the time and were initially designated as flotilla leaders.

One factor in favor of leaders was the Navy's total lack of modern light cruisers, only partly alleviated by the ten Omaha-class ships built in the 1920s.

Naval historian Norman Friedman believed that the great number of Wickes and Clemson-class destroyers hindered the U.S. Congress from purchasing new leaders.

[4] Along with the improved fuel efficiency resulting from superheated steam, the four boilers included economizers to further extend the ships' range by preheating incoming feedwater.

[5] There were extensive discussions about the armament, the 5-inch (127 mm)/25-caliber anti-aircraft (AA) gun being favored as being easy to work and train in a fast-moving and lively type of ship.

[7] The heavy armament proved top-heavy, and aircraft were becoming a greater threat, so during World War II on most of the class, mounts 51 and 54[clarification needed] were replaced with dual-purpose (surface action and air action) twin mounts,[6] and the original 1.1-inch guns were replaced with 40 mm Bofors and 20 mm Oerlikons.

[8][9][10] McDougal, Winslow, and Moffett were among the ships that supported the Roosevelt-Churchill conference at Placentia Bay near Argentia, Newfoundland that resulted in the Atlantic Charter in August 1941.

McDougal and Winslow were reclassified as AG-126 and AG-127 in September 1945 and modified for anti-kamikaze research in a similar configuration to Gearing-class radar picket destroyers.