USS Stockton (DD-73)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Stockton and HMS Ludlow.

USS Stockton (DD-73), a Caldwell-class destroyer, in commission in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1922 — seeing service in World War I — and briefly during 1940. She later served in the Royal Navy as HMS Ludlow during World War II. She was the second U.S. Navy ship named for Commodore Robert F. Stockton (1795–1866).

USS Stockton
History
United States
Name	USS Stockton
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Yard number	437
Laid down	16 October 1916
Launched	17 July 1917
Commissioned	26 November 1917
Decommissioned	26 June 1922
Recommissioned	16 August 1940
Decommissioned	23 October 1940
Stricken	8 January 1941
Identification	DD-73
Fate	Transferred to Royal Navy 23 October 1940
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Ludlow
Acquired	23 October 1940
Decommissioned	June 1945
Fate	Beached 15 July 1945 Destroyed as target
General characteristics
Class and type	Caldwell-class destroyer
Displacement	1,020 tons (standard) 1,125 tons (normal)
Length	315 ft 6 in (96.16 m)
Beam	31 ft 4 in (9.55 m)
Draft	8 ft 1 in (2.46 m)
Propulsion	White-Forster boilers Parsons turbines three shafts 18,500 hp (13,800 kW)
Speed	30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement	128 officers and enlisted
Armament	4 × 4 in (100 mm) 21-pdr guns 1 × 6 in (152 mm) Y-gun 12 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes

Construction and commissioning

Stockton was laid down on 16 October 1916 by William Cramp & Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and launched on 17 July 1917, sponsored by Ellen Emelie De Martelly. She was commissioned on 26 November 1917.

Service history

United States Navy

Stockton spent the last year of World War I assigned to convoy escort and antisubmarine warfare duty, operating from Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland. During that time, she engaged an Imperial German Navy U-boat on at least one occasion. On 30 March 1918, she and the destroyer Ericsson were escorting the troopship St. Paul on the Queenstown-Liverpool circuit, when Ericsson opened fire on a German submarine. The submerged submarine launched a torpedo at Stockton almost immediately thereafter, and the destroyer narrowly evaded it. The two destroyers dropped patterns of depth charges, but the U-boat managed to evade their attack and escaped. Later that night, Stockton collided with the ferry Slieve Bloom near South Stack Light. Slieve Bloom sank on 31 March 1918 with the loss of one life,^[1] and Stockton had to put into Liverpool for repairs.

Stockton returned to the United States in 1919, and continued to serve with the fleet for the next three years. On 26 June 1922, she was decommissioned and laid up at Philadelphia.

Stockton was recommissioned on 16 August 1940 and proceeded to Halifax, Nova Scotia, canada, where she was decommissioned on 23 August 1940 and turned over to the United Kingdom under the provisions of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement.

Stocktonʼs name was struck from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register on 8 January 1941.

Royal Navy

Ludlowʼs ensign on display in St Laurence, Ludlow

Model of Ludlow in Ludlow Museum

The destroyer served the Royal Navy as HMS Ludlow (G57) during World War II until decommissioning in June 1945. Following decommissioning, Ludlow was beached in the Firth of Forth off Yellowcraigs beach, Fidra, Dirleton, East Lothian, Scotland, on 15 July 1945 for use as a rocket target by Royal Air Force aircraft. It is reputed that the first salvo of rockets hit her just below the waterline and sank her. Her wreck lies off Yellowcraigs beach in 6 metres (20 ft) of water^[2] and, although well broken up, her remains are still visible just above the surface at low tide.

References

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

1. "The loss of the Slieve Bloom". The Times. No. 41753. London. 2 April 1918. col A, p. 3.
2. Ord Survey NT 522 861

56°03′N 0°45′W