USS Stockton (DD-73)
Appearance
![]() USS Stockton
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History | |
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Name | USS Stockton |
Builder | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia |
Yard number | 437 |
Laid down | 16 October 1916 |
Launched | 17 July 1917 |
Commissioned | 26 November 1917 |
Decommissioned | 26 June 1922 |
Recommissioned | 16 August 1940 |
Decommissioned | 23 October 1940 |
Stricken | 8 January 1941 |
Identification | DD-73 |
Fate | Transferred to Royal Navy 23 October 1940 |
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Name | HMS Ludlow |
Acquired | 23 October 1940 |
Decommissioned | June 1945 |
Fate |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type | Caldwell-class destroyer |
Displacement |
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Length | 315 ft 6 in (96.16 m) |
Beam | 31 ft 4 in (9.55 m) |
Draft | 8 ft 1 in (2.46 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
Complement | 128 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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USS Stockton (DD-73), a Caldwell-class destroyer, in commission in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1922 — seeing service in World War I — and briefly during 1940. She later served in the Royal Navy as HMS Ludlow during World War II. She was the second U.S. Navy ship named for Commodore Robert F. Stockton (1795–1866).
Construction and commissioning
Stockton was
launched on 17 July 1917, sponsored by Ellen Emelie De Martelly. She was commissioned
on 26 November 1917.
Service history
Stockton spent the last year of
antisubmarine warfare duty, operating from Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland. During that time, she engaged an Imperial German Navy U-boat on at least one occasion. On 30 March 1918, she and the destroyer Ericsson were escorting the troopship St. Paul on the Queenstown-Liverpool circuit, when Ericsson opened fire on a German submarine. The submerged submarine launched a torpedo at Stockton almost immediately thereafter, and the destroyer narrowly evaded it. The two destroyers dropped patterns of depth charges, but the U-boat managed to evade their attack and escaped. Later that night, Stockton collided with the ferry Slieve Bloom near South Stack Light. Slieve Bloom sank on 31 March 1918 with the loss of one life,[1]
and Stockton had to put into Liverpool for repairs.
Stockton returned to the
decommissioned
and laid up at Philadelphia.
Stockton was recommissioned on 16 August 1940 and proceeded to
Destroyers for Bases Agreement
.
Stocktonʼs name was struck from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register on 8 January 1941.
St Laurence, Ludlow
The destroyer served the Royal Navy as HMS Ludlow (G57) during
Yellowcraigs beach, Fidra, Dirleton, East Lothian, Scotland, on 15 July 1945 for use as a rocket target by Royal Air Force aircraft. It is reputed that the first salvo of rockets hit her just below the waterline and sank her. Her wreck lies off Yellowcraigs beach in 6 metres (20 ft) of water[2]
and, although well broken up, her remains are still visible just above the surface at low tide.
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.