The ships were equipped with two propeller shafts and two Curtis steam turbines fed by four Yarrow boilers, providing a minimum of to achieve the design speed of . For all of the ships except , the pair of main turbines was supplemented with a cruising turbine geared to one of the shafts. "Wadsworth" had no cruising turbines, but instead had her twin turbines geared directly to the propeller shafts—the first American destroyer so outfitted. She served as a testbed, and had a considerable effect on U.S. destroyer design after her trials in July 1915.