USS Wadsworth (DD-60)

Wadsworth laying a smoke screen, May 1918
History
United States
Name	USS Wadsworth
Namesake	Alexander Scammel Wadsworth[1]
Ordered	1913[3]
Builder	Bath Iron Works[1] Bath, Maine
Yard number	64[2]
Laid down	23 February 1914[1]
Launched	29 April 1915[1]
Sponsored by	Juanita Doane Wells[1]
Commissioned	23 July 1915[1]
Decommissioned	3 June 1922[1]
Stricken	7 January 1936[1]
Fate	Sold for scrapping on 30 June 1936[1]
General characteristics
Class and type	Tucker-class destroyer
Displacement	1,060 long tons (1,080 t)[1]
Length	315 ft 3 in (96.09 m)[1]
Beam	29 ft 9 in (9.07 m)[3]
Draft	9 ft 2 in (2.79 m)[3]
Propulsion	2 × screw propellers 2 × Curtis geared steam turbines , 17,500 shp (13,000 kW) 4 × Yarrow boilers
Speed	30.67 knots (56.80 km/h)[1]
Complement	99 officers and enlisted[1]
Armament	4 × 4 in (102 mm)/50 gun[3] 8 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes

USS Wadsworth (Destroyer No. 60/DD-60) was a Tucker-class destroyer built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named for Alexander Scammel Wadsworth.

Wadsworth was

USS Wadsworth was

At the completion of her second round of winter Fleet maneuvers in the spring of 1917, Wadsworth returned north as far as Hampton Roads. As America's entry into World War I approached, she and her sister destroyers began patrolling the Norfolk–Yorktown area to protect the naval bases and ships there against potential incursions by German submarines.^[1]

World War I

On 6 April 1917, while Wadsworth was at anchor with the rest of the Fleet at Yorktown, the United States entered World War I. Wadsworth moved to New York almost immediately to prepare for the voyage to Europe and war service. On 24 April, she departed New York for Europe, as the

Wadsworth's first summer overseas proved to be the most eventful period of her wartime service. She sighted her first U-boat on 18 May, less than two weeks after she began patrols out of Queenstown. Though the destroyer sped to the attack, the submarine dove and escaped. Three days later, Wadsworth picked up some survivors from HMS Paxton which had been torpedoed and sunk the preceding day. On 7 June, the destroyer caught a glimpse of another enemy submarine just before it submerged and escaped. Between 24 and 27 June, Wadsworth served as part of the escort for the first American troop convoy to reach Europe. Though she scored no definitely provable successes against German submarines, the destroyer made depth charge attacks on four separate occasions in July and a gunfire attack in one other instance. The first two depth-charge attacks, on 10 and 11 July, returned no results whatsoever, and the gun attack on 20 July was similarly unrewarding. However, after sighting a double periscope the following day, Wadsworth made another depth-charge attack. During that attack, one of the explosions seemed much stronger than those from the other charges she dropped. Moreover, a patch of reddish-brown material rose to the surface. Although it seemed certain that the destroyer had damaged a submarine, no conclusive evidence was found to prove this possibility.^[1]

Wadsworth made her fourth depth charge attack on a U-boat on 29 July. At about 17:25, she dropped several charges in what appeared to be the wake of a submarine proceeding submerged. The conjecture that a U-boat was damaged was supported by the appearance of a large amount of heavy oil on the surface following the attack. Just before 23:00, the warship attacked another supposed submarine wake. It was too dark to evaluate the results; but, not long thereafter, Trippe struck a submerged metallic object which caused her to list 10° temporarily. Later, Wadsworth's wireless operator intercepted messages sent by a German submarine over a period of about half an hour which suggested that Wadsworth may have damaged a submarine, although as with the depth-charge attack of 21 June, no definite proof was forthcoming. Early in August, the destroyer concluded her summer of peak activity by escorting the first United States merchant convoy on the last leg of its voyage to Europe. During the mission, on the 16th, the destroyer dropped a barrage on what was thought to be a submarine.^[1]

For the remainder of the war, her encounters with the enemy were infrequent. In fact, her next submarine contact did not occur until 17 December and, like those before, resulted in no definite damage to the enemy. Although the opening months of 1918 brought no new U-boat contacts, Wadsworth worked hard escorting convoys and patrolling British waters.^[1]

Early in March 1918, she received a change in assignment. On the 4th, she arrived in Brest, France, whence she operated for the remainder of the war. During that assignment, she recorded only two scrapes with German submarines: the first on 1 June and the second on 25 October. In each case, she dropped depth charges, but could produce no solid proof of damage to the enemy. The war ended on 11 November 1918 when Germany accepted Allied armistice terms.^[1]

Later career