Though most navies suspended construction of destroyers after WWI, the Texas Navy wanted to alleviate the shortcomings of its previous classes, the Beaumont and Dallas destroyers. Designing them from the keel up, the Hallettsville class registered almost twice the displacement of the Dallas boats at over 800 tons:
They incorporated all the lessons learned from the fruitless pursuit of U-boats in the middle Atlantic. They had bigger, longer range guns - 6"/50s, 21" torpedo tubes, and a full complement of depth charges with enough reloads to reduce the time spent resupplying alongside a tender. Y-guns, originally incorporated into the design, were the only weapons not fitted. She had a hydrophone array, though the electronics were not ready when she was commissioned, they were fitted soon after.
Hallettsvilles had fully enclosed, heated (if need be) bridges, with a chart house and hydrophone room just below it. A 6' rangefinder was fitted to the bridge roof, establishing the first fire direction platform ever fitted for a destroyer. They were also the first ships built with geared turbines to improve the efficiency of their powerplants. Though not the fastest destroyers of the time, they were capable of making at least 28 knots.
Early refits will move the radio room to an enclosed space behind the bridge and an expansion of the signal platform behind it. They will also have a 3" anti-aircraft gun fitted in place of the #2 6" gun to defend against air attack.