U.S.S. Decatur (1900)
| U.S.S. Decatur (1900) | |
|---|---|
| Hull Number: | DD-5 |
| Builder: | W. R. Trigg[1] |
| Laid down: | 26 July, 1899[2] |
| Launched: | 26 September, 1900[3] |
| Commissioned: | 19 May, 1902[4] |
| Decommissioned: | 20 June, 1919[5] |
| Stricken: | 15 September, 1919[6] |
| Sold: | 3 June, 1920[7] |
| Fate: | Broken up |
U.S.S. Decatur was one of five Bainbridge class destroyers completed for the U.S. Navy.
Construction
Decatur was launched on 26 September 1900 by the W. R. Trigg shipyard at Richmond, Virginia. Her launch was sponsored by Miss M. D. Mayo, the great-grandniece of Commodore Stephen Decatur.
Service
Decatur was commissioned on 19 May, 1902, Lieutenant Lloyd H. Chandler in command.
Decatur was designated lead vessel of the five destroyers in the First Torpedo Flotilla, with whom she conducted drills and maneuvers along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean until December 1903 when the flotilla departed Norfolk for the Asiatic Station, sailing by way of the Suez Canal. Arriving at Cavite, P.I., on 14 April, 1904, Decatur exercised along the China coast and cruised in Philippine waters until she was placed in reserve at Cavite on 5 December, 1905. For the next three years she made infrequent cruises, including one to the southern Philippines in January and February 1908 and Saigon in May 1908.
Placed out of commission 18 February 1909, Decatur was placed in commission in reserve on 22 April, 1910 and subsequently in full commission on 22 December, 1910. She resumed operations with the Torpedo Flotilla, cruising in the southern Philippines and between ports of China and Japan until 1 August, 1917, when she departed for the Mediterranean.
Assigned to U.S. Patrol Squadrons, she arrived at Gibraltar on 20 October, 1917 for patrol and convoy duty in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She served in this role until 8 December, 1918. With the end of hostilities, Decatur returned to the United States. Transferred to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 6 February, 1919, she was decommissioned there on 20 June, 1919.
She was sold 3 January, 1920, the same date as her four surviving sister ships.
Captains
- Lieutenant Lloyd H. Chandler, 19 May, 1902 – 22 April, 1904 (also Commanding Officer, Torpedo Boat Flotilla[8])
- Lieutenant Dudley W. Knox, 22 April, 1904 – 24 March, 1906
- Warrant Machinist George Growney, 24 March, 1906 – 18 July, 1907
- Warrant Machinist John L. King, 18 July, 1907 – 1907
- Ensign Chester W. Nimitz, 1907[Citation needed] – 1907
- Ensign John M. Smeallie, 1907 – 20 December, 1908
- Ensign Albert C. Read, 20 December, 1908 – 18 February, 1909
- Lieutenant Carroll S. Graves, 22 December, 1910[9] – 4 April, 1912
- Lieutenant Burton H. Green, 4 April, 1912 – 29 March, 1913
- Lieutenant Ernest Durr, 29 March, 1913 – 13 April, 1913
- Ensign Francis Cogswell, 13 April, 1913 – 5 August, 1914
- Lieutenant Wilfred E. Clarke, 5 August, 1914[10][11] – 5 July, 1916[Inference]
- Lieutenant Ralph R. Stewart, 5 July, 1916[12] – 31 January, 1918
- Lieutenant Commander Harry A. McClure, 31 January, 1918 – 4 August, 1918
- Lieutenant Commander William G. B. Hatch, 4 August, 1918 – 2 October, 1918
- Lieutenant Homer L. Grosskopf, 2 October, 1918 – 20 Jun, 1919
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 428.
- ↑ Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 428.
- ↑ Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 428.
- ↑ Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 428.
- ↑ Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 428.
- ↑ Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 428.
- ↑ Silverstone. The New Navy. p. 42.
- ↑ Register of Officers, 1903. p. 24.
- ↑ Register of Officers, 1911. p. 40.
- ↑ Register of Officers, 1915. p. 36.
- ↑ Register of Officers, 1916. p. 34.
- ↑ Register of Officers, 1917. p. 36.
Bibliography
- Chesneau, Robert; Kolesnik, Eugene (editors) (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. (on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk).
- Friedman, Norman (1985). U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. (on Amazon.com).
- Silverstone, Paul H. (2006). The U.S. Navy Warship Series: The New Navy 1883-1922. New York: Routledge.
| Bainbridge Class Destroyer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bainbridge | Barry | Chauncey | Dale | Decatur | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Destroyers (US) | Paul Jones Class | –> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
