USS Stoddert
![]() USS Stoddert in 1925
| |
History | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Namesake | Benjamin Stoddert |
Builder | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Union Iron Works, San Francisco |
Laid down | 4 July 1918 |
Launched | 8 January 1919 |
Commissioned | 30 June 1920 |
Decommissioned | 10 January 1933 |
Stricken | 5 June 1935 |
Fate | Sold for scrapping, 30 August 1935 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Clemson-class destroyer |
Displacement | 1,215 tons |
Length | 314 feet 4 inches (95.81 m) |
Beam | 31 feet 8 inches (9.65 m) |
Draft | 9 feet 10 inches (3.00 m) |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 35 knots (65 km/h) |
Range | |
Complement | 130 officers and enlisted |
Armament | 4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes |
USS Stoddert (DD-302/AG-18) was a
History
Stoddert was laid down on 4 July 1918 at
Stoddert joined Division 33 of the Reserve Destroyer Squadron,
In July, she steamed farther north to the state of
The destroyer cruised the Washington coastline until the end of August, visiting
From 22 October 1923 until 2 January 1924, Stoddert took part in fleet maneuvers and torpedo exercises at San Diego, sailing to the south on 16 January. Transiting the Panama Canal with the Battle Fleet from 18 to 25 January, she was engaged with the Scouting Fleet in maneuvers designed to test the defenses and facilities of the Canal Zone. During the winter, the combined fleets were based at Culebra, and on 22 April 1924, Stoddert arrived back at San Diego with the Battle Fleet.
Cruising with Battle Fleet destroyer squadrons, Stoddert operated along the west coast, principally at San Diego,
On 1 July 1925, the destroyer sailed from Pearl Harbor with the Battle Fleet on a good will cruise via Samoa to Australia and New Zealand. The ships visited Melbourne, Dunedin, and Lyttelton, and the officers and men were extensively entertained in all these ports. This visit furthered the amicable relations existing between the United States and Australia and New Zealand. Stoddert returned to her base at San Diego on 26 September.
She resumed operations with the Battle Fleet along the west coast, taking time to attend the Navy Day celebration at San Diego from 21 to 27 October 1925 and the Founders Day festivities held at
Her one special assignment took her to Honolulu for emergency assistance to the Dole flight, a non-stop airplane race between San Francisco and Honolulu, starting on 16 August 1927. Upon receipt of reports of planes missing, an extensive search was started under the direction of the Commander in Chief, Battle Fleet; Commandant, 12th Naval District; and Commandant, 14th Naval District. A total of 54 ships of the Battle Fleet took part in this search between 17 August and 5 September, covering approximately 350,000 square miles (910,000 km2).
On 28 April 1928, Stoddert arrived at Honolulu, via San Francisco, for Battle Fleet exercises at
Under terms of the London Treaty for Reduction of Naval Armament, Stoddert was decommissioned on 20 May 1930 and delivered to the Mare Island Navy Yard for retention by conversion to a radio-controlled target ship. This was in accordance with the Navy's decision to fit out a unit of three destroyers as radio-controlled light targets for the purpose of conducting Fleet exercises requiring' the use of high speed targets. Stoddert, designated Light Target No. 1, received the initial installation. Her experimental radio control apparatus paved the way for later fitting out of remote-controlled Boggs (DD-136) and Lamberton (DD-119), and pointed the way for the more elaborate equipment of the famous radio-controlled target ship Utah (AG-16).
She was recommissioned on 6 April 1931; reclassified as miscellaneous auxiliary, AG-18, on 30 June 1931 and redesignated DD-302 on 16 April 1932. After experimental operations, she became an element of Mobile Target Division 1. From her base at San Diego, Stoddert was the target for dive bombing, aerial torpedoes, and fleet gunnery exercises along the coast of California. She spent much of her time as the dive-bombing and torpedo attack target ship for the aircraft of Saratoga (CV-3).
Fate
The destroyer was decommissioned at San Diego on 10 January 1933, many of her officers and crew transferring to mobile target ship Lamberton (AG-21). Her name was struck from the Navy List on 5 June 1935, and she was sold for scrapping on 30 August 1935.
See also
- USS Benjamin Stoddert (DDG-22), another ship named for Stoddert.
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery of Stoddert at NavSource Naval History
- "Crewless Boat, Run By Radio, Performs New Feats", October 1931, Popular Science