a vector DOES NOT call delete ... period ... a vector manages the memory of the objects it contains ... it does NOT manage any memory POINTED to these obejcts, so if you have a vector of pointers to objects, the vector is NOT the owner of those objects (it will not automatically allocate and delete them) it is only the owner of the POINTERS to the objects ...

this is the ONLY way that makes sense, as how would the vector know if it should delete the items or if they might also be owned elsewhere ... if you want the objects to be managed by the vector, you need a smart-pointer or reference class, that will do so ... for instance I have a template class that implements a ref-counted smart owner for any object, and then I have a little wrapper template which automatically increments the ref count in copy constructor and assignment operators, decrements them during assignement operator and destructor. Good Luck