They were the largest and most heavily armed of the "thousand tonners", and the subsequent "flush deck" classes differed mainly in hull design and the engineering plant.

While the gun armament was typical for destroyers of this period, the torpedo armament of twelve 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes was a significant increase over the preceding Tucker class, replacing four twin mounts with four triple mounts.

Both the gun and torpedo armament would remain standard through the mass-production "flush-deck" Wickes and Clemson classes commissioned through 1921.

Wilkes and Shaw served in the United States Coast Guard as part of the Rum Patrol 1926–34.

While the other ships of the Sampson class were retired and scrapped 1934–36 to comply with the London Naval Treaty, Allen survived into the 1940s and was recommissioned on 23 August 1940; she served in the Pearl Harbor Defensive Sea Area through World War II before being decommissioned at Philadelphia in October 1945 and scrapped, the only pre-flush-deck destroyer to serve in that war.