USS Stevens (DD-86)

The first USS "Stevens" (DD–86) was a "Wickes" class destroyer in the United States Navy during the World War I. She was named for Thomas Holdup Stevens.

History

She was laid down at Quincy, Massachusetts, on 20 September 1917 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation; launched on 13 January 1918; sponsored by Miss Marie Christie Stevens; and commissioned at Boston on 24 May 1918, Comdr. Rufus F. Zogbaum, Jr., in command.

"Stevens" departed Boston on 3 June and arrived in New York two days later. On the 15th, she sailed for Europe in the screen of a convoy and reached Brest, France, on the 27th. The following day, she headed for Queenstown in Ireland, arriving there on 6 July. Assigned to the United States Naval Forces, Europe, "Stevens" operated out of that port and protected convoys on the Queenstown-Liverpool circuit until mid-December. She put to sea on the 16th and, after stops at the Azores and Bermuda, entered Boston on 3 January 1919.

Upon her return to the United States, the destroyer was assigned to Destroyer Division 7, Squadron 3, Atlantic Fleet. In the spring of 1919, she cruised to Key West, Florida, and visited New York, before getting underway from Boston on 3 May to participate in the support operations for the first successful transatlantic flight. She put into Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the 4th and stood out again five days later to guard for the Navy seaplanes' flight to Newfoundland. After returning to Halifax on the 11th, she put to sea and, by the 19th, reached Ponta Delgada, in the Azores. Along the way, she assisted in the search for one of the two downed planes, NC-3.

She completed her mission at Boston on 8 June and, a month later, shifted to Newport, R.I., for normal operations. She visited the southeastern coast of the United States during the fall and early winter of 1919 and was at Philadelphia from 17 December 1919 to 1 June 1920. "Stevens" operated off the New England coast until 3 November 1921 when she set course for Charleston, South Carolina. The destroyer returned to Philadelphia on 8 April 1922 for inactivation. She decommissioned there on 19 June and remained inactive until 7 January 1936 when her name was struck from the Navy list. On 8 September 1936, her hulk was sold to the Boston Iron and Metal Company, Incorporated, of Baltimore, Maryland, for scrapping.

See also

* USS "Stevens" for other ships of this name
* List of United States Navy destroyers
* List of ship launches in 1918
* List of ship commissionings in 1918
* List of ship decommissionings in 1922

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/s18/stevens-i.htm

External links

* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/086.htm NavSource Photos]