USS Perkins (DD-26)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Perkins.

USS Perkins (DD-26) was a modified Paulding-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I. She was the first ship named for Commodore George H. Perkins.

USS Perkins (DD-26) underway in 1912.
History
United States
Name	Perkins
Namesake	Commodore George H. Perkins
Builder	Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts
Cost	$603,166.04[1]
Laid down	22 March 1909
Launched	9 April 1910
Sponsored by	Isabel Weld Perkins daughter of Commodore Perkins
Commissioned	18 November 1910
Decommissioned	5 December 1919
Stricken	8 March 1935
Identification	Hull symbol:DD-26 Code letters:NOX
Fate	Sold 28 June 1935
General characteristics [2]
Class and type	Paulding-class destroyer
Displacement	742 long tons (754 t) normal 887 long tons (901 t) full load
Length	293 ft 10 in (89.56 m)
Beam	27 ft (8.2 m)
Draft	8 ft 4 in (2.54 m) (mean)[3]
Installed power	12,000 ihp (8,900 kW)
Propulsion	4 × boilers 2 × Parsons Direct Drive Turbines 2 × shafts
Speed	29.5 kn (33.9 mph; 54.6 km/h) 29.76 kn (34.25 mph; 55.12 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[3]
Complement	4 officers 87 enlisted[4]
Armament	5 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns 6 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (3 × 2)

Perkins was laid down on 22 March 1909 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts, christened by Commodore Perkins' daughter Isabel Weld Perkins and launched from the Fore River on 9 April 1910. Perkins was commissioned on 18 November 1910, Lieutenant Commander Joel R. P. Pringle in command.

Service history

After almost seven years of peacetime service with active and reserve destroyer squadrons, Perkins recommissioned on 3 April 1917. Assigned to the second division of United States destroyer forces in Europe, a division which included Paulding, Wilkes, and Ammen, she operated out of Queenstown, Ireland, from June into November 1917.

During this duty, she rescued survivors of Tarquah on 7 August, and escorted Bohemia from Saint Nazaire to Ireland and New York from Queenstown to Liverpool. In November 1917 she departed Ireland for New York, New York.

During the winter of 1917–1918, she underwent overhaul at Charleston, South Carolina. From March to December 1918 she operated out of Gravesend Bay, New York, on anti-submarine patrol and escort duty. She sighted German submarine U-151 off New Jersey on 2 June 1918. On convoy duty, she escorted various ships, including President Grant and President Washington, between Halifax, Nova Scotia and New York.

Entering the Reserve Fleet on 5 December 1919, she remained there until she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 March 1935, sold on 28 June, and scrapped.

References

1. "Table 21 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 762. 1921.
2. "USS Perkins (DD-26)". Navsource.org. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
3. "Table 10 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 714. 1921.
4. "Table 16 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 749. 1921.

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.