USS Somers

Six ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS "Somers" in honor of Master Commandant Richard Somers who was killed at Tripoli in action against the Barbary pirates.

*The first "Somers" was a schooner that fought under Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry on Lake Erie and Lake Huron, and took part in the capture of the British Squadron on 10 September 1813. She was captured by the British in 1814.

*The second "Somers" was a brig launched by the New York Navy Yard on 16 April 1842 and commissioned on 12 May 1842, Commander Alexander Slidell Mackenzie in command. The ship is famous for the "Somers Affair", a controversy in which Commander Mackenzie ordered the hanging of three alleged mutineers, including the son of Secretary of War John Canfield Spencer, during the first cruise. She sank in 1846 while serving in the Mexican-American War.

*The third, USS "Somers" (TB-22), was a torpedo boat built in Germany in 1895 and purchased during the War of 1898. Her service until 1919 was principally with the Maryland and Illinois Naval Militias and on coastal patrol during World War I. She was struck in 1919 and sold in 1920.

*The fourth, "Somers" (DD-301), was a "Clemson"-class destroyer launched in 1918. She engaged in peacetime operations with the Pacific Fleet from 1920 until she was scrapped under the London Disarmament Treaty in 1930.

*The fifth, "Somers" (DD-381), was the lead ship of the "Somers"-class destroyers. She was built at Federal, Kearny and commissioned 1 December 1937. She was struck in 1947.

*The sixth, "Somers" (DDG-34, ex-DD-947), was a "Forrest Sherman"-class destroyer when her keel was laid down at the Bath Iron Works on 4 March 1958, she was launched on 30 May, and commissioned on 3 April 1959. She was reclassified as a guided missile Destroyer "'DDG-34" in 1967, and stricken in 1988. She was sunk as a target 1998.