The Mahan-class destroyers originally included 16 ships: the United States Navy commissioned 15 of them in 1936 and one in 1937. Two more ships, often referred to as the Dunlap class, were approved in the basic Mahan design; both commissioned in 1937. USS Mahan was the lead ship of the class, named for Rear-Admiral Alfred T. Mahan, an influential historian and theorist on sea power.