The Bainbridge-class destroyers were the first destroyers of the United States Navy, built in 1899 and 1900.

The 13 ships were authorized following the Spanish-American War, and were decommissioned in 1920. One ship was lost at sea: the Chauncey, which collided with the SS Rose in 1917.

After decommissioning, the 12 remaining ships were sold to Joseph G. Hitner, except for the Hopkins. Hopkins was sold to the Denton Shore Lumber Company in Tampa, Florida.

A Bainbridge-class destroyer would be dwarfed by its counterpart of 100 years later. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) is more than twice as long and displaces 20 times as much tonnage as her namesake a century earlier, and deadlier than an entire fleet of the battleships that the first Bainbridge was built to protect.

• Length: 250 ft (76.2 m)
• Beam: 23 ft 1 in (7.04 m)
• Draft: 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
• Displacement
  • Normal: 420 tons
  • Full load: 592 tons
• Propulsion
  • 4 boilers
  • 2 engines, 8,000 hp
  • Maximum speed: 28.4 knots (52.6 km/h)
• Armament
  • 2 3 in (76 mm) guns
  • 5 6 pound (2.7 kg) guns
  • 2 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
• Complement: 3 officers and 72 enlisted men

Some sources break the Bainbridge class into other classes.

• Hopkins and Hull were oil-fueled rather than coal-fueled, had turtle deck forward and may be considered to be Hopkins-class.
• Lawrence and Macdonough had two additional 6-pounder guns, turtledeck forward, carried their funnels in only one group of four and may be considered to be Lawrence-class.
• Paul Jones, Perry and Preble carried one twin torpedo tube instead of two singles and may be considered to be Lawrence-class.
• Stewart was equipped with Seabury boilers and was fastest of the 400-tonners (she was also the smallest).

Gardiner, Robert, Conway's all the world's fighting ships 1860-1905 Conway Maritime Press, 1997. ISBN 0-85177-133-5