USS ''McCawley'' (DD-276) was a built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during World WarI. She was armed with 4× 4inch and 2× 1pounder guns. She was commissioned on 22September 1919, served with the Pacific Fleet for 3 years and was laid up on 7June 1922. ''McCawley'' was recommissioned on 27September 1923, again serving in the Pacific, and decommissioned in 1930 before being sold for scrap.

Description

The ''Clemson'' class was a repeat of the preceding although more fuel capacity was added.Gardiner & Gray, p. 125 The ships displaced at

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

load and at

deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...

. They had an

overall length The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads i ...

of , a

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of and a draught of . They had a crew of 6 officers and 108 enlisted men. Performance differed radically between the ships of the class, often due to poor workmanship. The ''Clemson'' class was powered by two

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

, using steam provided by four

water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-gene ...

s. The turbines were designed to produce a total of intended to reach a speed of . The ships carried a maximum of of

fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...

which was intended gave them a range of at . The ships were armed with four 4-inch (102 mm) guns in single mounts and were fitted with two 1-pounder guns for anti-aircraft defense. In many ships a shortage of 1-pounders caused them to be replaced by 3-inch (76 mm) guns. Their primary weapon, though, was their torpedo

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

of a dozen 21 inch (533 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in four triple mounts. They also carried a pair of

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

rails. A "Y-gun" depth charge thrower was added to many ships.Friedman, pp. 44–45

Commissioning

''McCawley'', named for Colonel Charles McCawley, was laid down 5 November 1918 by the

Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation Bethlehem Steel Corporation Shipbuilding Division was created in 1905 when the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, acquired the San Francisco shipyard Union Iron Works. In 1917 it was incorporated as Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co ...

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901 ...

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

; launched 14 June 1919; sponsored by Miss Eleanor Laurie McCawley, granddaughter of Colonel McCawley; and commissioned 22 September 1919.

Service history

Following an east coast fitting out and shakedown period, ''McCawley'' sailed for

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where she joined

Destroyer Squadron 2 Destroyer Squadron 2 is a destroyer squadron of the United States Navy. It is administratively part of Commander, Naval Surface Forces Atlantic. , the following destroyers are assigned to this squadron: , , , , , , . Destroyer Squadron ...

, later DesRon 4, Pacific Fleet. She participated in local exercises off the west coast until she decommissioned at San Diego 7June 1922. On 27September 1923 ''McCawley'' was recommissioned and again assigned to the Pacific Fleet. For the next 6 years she operated there, taking part in various local, squadron and fleet training exercises. During 1924 and 1927 she steamed to the

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for fleet problems, but otherwise spent the entire period in operations along the west coast, from San Diego to

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, and in

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an waters. ''McCawley'' was designated for deactivation under the terms of the London Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armament and decommissioned at San Diego on 1 April 1930. Her name was struck from the

Navy list A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...

on 13 August 1930 and her hulk was scrapped and sold at auction 2 September 1931.

Notes

References

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External links

*http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/276.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:McCawley (DD-276) Clemson-class destroyers Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts 1919 ships