USS Parker (DD-48)

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see USS Parker.
Parker off New York City in May 1921
USS Parker (DD-48) off New York City in May 1921
History
United States
NameParker
Namesake
Foxhall A. Parker, Jr.
OrderedMarch 1911[3]
Builder
Cost$760,068.39 (hull and machinery)[5]
Yard number384[2]
Laid down11 March 1912[4]
Launched8 February 1913[1]
Sponsored byMrs. Henry W. Hand[1]
Commissioned20 January 1914[4]
Decommissioned6 June 1922[1]
Stricken8 March 1935[4]
Identification
Fatescrapped after 23 April 1935[1]
General characteristics [6]
Class and typeAylwin-class destroyer
Displacement1,036 long tons (1,053 t)[4]
Length305 ft 3 in (93.04 m)[4]
Beam30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)[4]
Draft9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) (mean)[8]
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed
  • 29.5 kn (33.9 mph; 54.6 km/h)
  • 29.55 kn (34.01 mph; 54.73 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[8]
Complement5 officers 96 enlisted[7]
Armament

USS Parker (Destroyer No. 48/DD-48) was an

Superintendent of United States Naval Academy
.

Parker was

18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. Parker was powered by a pair of steam turbines
that propelled her at up to 29.5 kn (33.9 mph; 54.6 km/h).

After her January 1914

Admiralty
, and U.S. Navy officials.

Upon returning to the U.S. after the war in July 1919, Parker rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. Parker was

decommissioned in June 1922. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in March 1935, and ordered scrapped
in April.

Design and construction

Parker was authorized in March 1911 as the third of four ships of the

displacement of 1,036 long tons (1,053 t) and displaced 1,235 long tons (1,255 t) when fully loaded.[3][4]

Parker had two

propellers, and exceeded the contracted speed in her trials in November, when she topped out at 30.33 kn (34.90 mph; 56.17 km/h) during runs off the Delaware Breakwater.[11]

Parker's main

armor-piercing projectiles at 2,900 ft/s (880 m/s). At an elevation of 20°, the guns had a range of 15,920 yd (14,560 m).[12] Parker was also equipped with four twin mount 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes.[3]

Pre-World War I

Parker was

Atlantic Fleet, operating off the Atlantic coast during the years of American neutrality in World War I.[1] On 6 April 1914, Parker and sister ships Aylwin and Benham were exercising off the North Carolina coast,[13] about 15 nmi (17 mi; 28 km) off the Diamond Shoals lightship.[14] An explosion ripped through the forward fire room on Aylwin, injuring three men. Benham loaded the three wounded sailors and sped to the naval hospital at Norfolk, Virginia, while Parker took on the remainder of Aylwin's crew. One of the injured men died on Benham before landfall was made in Virginia;[13] another died a short time later.[15] Aylwin remained afloat but, unmanned, was towed into Norfolk by Parker and U.S. Navy tug Sonoma.[13] The crews of all three destroyers raised $250 to help defray funeral expenses for the widow of one of the men.[15]

In early April 1915, Parker and destroyer

New York City Quarantine Station. There were concerns by Dudley Field Malone, the local port collector, that some of the interned German steamships at New York might try to slip out during a heavy snowstorm.[16] As a part of these patrols, Malone discovered what The New York Times termed a "widespread conspiracy" intended to supply British warships outside U.S. territorial waters, in violation of the American neutrality in World War I.[17]

After participating in winter maneuvers in Cuban waters in early 1917, Parker joined the fleet at Yorktown, Virginia, in March, immediately prior to the American entry into World War I.[1]

World War I

After the U.S. entered World War I on 6 April 1917, Parker was selected for overseas duty. She sailed on 17 June as an escort for the fourth group of the first American convoy, which carried units of the

American Expeditionary Force.[Note 3] The convoy consisted of United States Army transports Montanan, Dakotan, El Occidente, and Edward Luckenbach; U.S. Navy transport Hancock; and oiler Kanawha. The escorts — in addition to Parker — were the cruisers St. Louis, and destroyers Ammen, Flusser, and Shaw.[18] The group departed from New York for Brest, France, steaming at an 11 kn (13 mph; 20 km/h) pace.[19] A thwarted submarine attack on the first convoy group,[20] and reports of heavy submarine activity off of Brest, resulted in a change in the convoy's destination to Saint-Nazaire[21] where the convoy arrived 2 July.[22]

From St. Nazaire, Parker steamed to

Queenstown, Ireland, joining the U.S. Naval Forces patrolling the Irish Coast. There she escorted convoys safely through the war zone, and assisted vessels in distress. From July–November 1918, Parker was attached to the base at Plymouth, England, and operated with U.S. submarine chasers. Parker made contact with German submarines on several occasions during the war. She was credited with probably seriously damaging an enemy submarine on 3 August 1917.[1]

On 26 February 1918, Parker assisted in rescuing nine survivors of British hospital ship

British Parliament, the Admiralty, and the U.S. naval authorities. On 1 November, Parker sailed from Plymouth for Gibraltar but returned to Plymouth at the end of the war.[1]

Postwar

After returning to Plymouth after the

Destroyer Squadron 1, Atlantic Fleet.[1]

The destroyer was based out of

Tarsus and Adana to that effect.[26][Note 4]

After making a final cruise to

decommissioned on 6 June 1922.[1] After 13 years in reserve, the ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 March 1935,[4] and, on 23 April, was ordered scrapped.[1]

Notes

  1. Naval History & Heritage Command. "Aylwin". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command
    .
  2. calibers
    , meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as its bore, or 200 in (5.1 m) in this case. The Mark number is the version of the gun; in this case, the ninth U.S. Navy design of the 4-inch/50 gun.
  3. ^ The individual groups of the first convoy were typically counted as separate convoys in post-war sources. See, for example, Crowell and Wilson, Appendix G, p. 603.
  4. ^ The Nilsons were apparently released unharmed and continued to teach in Turkey until retiring and returning to the U.S. in 1957. See: "Nilson-Fyfe Papers, 1911–1957". Girnnell College. April 2009. Retrieved 15 June 2009.

References

  1. ^
    Naval History & Heritage Command. "Parker (DD-48) i". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
    . Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  2. ^ "Parker (6104407)". Miramar Ship Index. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Gardiner, p. 122.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bauer and Roberts, p. 170.
  5. ^ "Table 21 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 762. 1921.
  6. ^ "USS Parker (DD-48)". Navsource.org. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  7. ^ a b "Table 16 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 749. 1921.
  8. ^ a b "Table 10 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 714. 1921.
  9. ^ "Destroyer Parker afloat". The Washington Post. 9 February 1913. p. 10.
  10. ^ "Aylwin fails on trial trip". The New York Times. 24 July 1913. p. 16.
  11. ^ "New naval boat makes 30.33 knots". The Christian Science Monitor. 22 November 1913. p. 24.
  12. ^ a b c DiGiulian, Tony (15 August 2008). "United States of America: 4"/50 (10.2 cm) Marks 7, 8, 9 and 10". Naval Weapons of the World. Navweaps.com. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  13. ^ a b c "Explosion on Navy boat". The Washington Post. 7 April 1914. p. 5.
  14. The Atlanta Constitution
    . 7 April 1914. p. 11.
  15. ^ a b "Naval funeral for Bernard Glynn". The New York Times. 13 April 1914. p. 11.
  16. ^ "Eitel still in port in early evening". The New York Times. 4 April 1915. p. 1.
  17. ^ "Finds plot to aid Allies' warships". The New York Times. 6 April 1915. p. 1.
  18. ^ Gleaves, p. 35.
  19. ^ Gleaves, p. 42.
  20. ^ Gleaves, pp. 42–43.
  21. ^ Gleaves, p. 45.
  22. ^ Crowell and Wilson, p. 406.
  23. ^ "British laud Sims's sailors". Los Angeles Times. 14 March 1918. p. I-3.
  24. His Majesty's Stationery Office
    . 1919.
  25. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur. "Ships hit during WWI: Glenart Castle". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  26. ^ "Demands Nilson's release". The New York Times. 3 July 1920. p. 8.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Parker (DD-48).

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Parker_(DD-48)&oldid=1220630059"