The oldest destroyers of pre-WW1 vintage had been discarded during the 1930's. but nothing had been built to replace them in the work they had been doing. The Navy Admirals could see war on the horizon and wanted a destroyer escort to look after the older and slower capital ships and the fleet train that would be needed for supply chain work in the Pacific. Something about the size of the older ABC class destroyers with updated armaments, machinery and electronics.
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The ships completed in 1941 were as per the drawing above. By the drawing below, the ships completed to that standard, had the updates that the class would fight the rest of the war with. The rest of the class would be brought up to the 1943 standard as they went through their refit programs (or as they were completed).
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It was said that these ships were too fast for their duties as escorts. If they were on convoy duty of some kind, and were sent on a submarine contact, the ship could be away from the convoy for 4-6-8 hours hunting while the convoy it was escorting is moving away at 8-12-15 knots. To catch back up to the convoy, in a reasonable time, will require a high speed return run. That is where a better speed differential is better for an escort. Imagine a poor old Flower class corvette trying to catch up to a convoy, max speed 15/16 knots (on a flat calm day), it may never catch up before the convoy makes port.
