USS ''O'Brien'' (Destroyer No. 51/DD-51) was the
lead ship
The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.
Large ships are very complex and may ...
of s 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 ...
prior to the
American entry into World War I
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
. The ship was the second US Navy vessel named in honor of
Jeremiah O'Brien
Captain Jeremiah O'Brien (1744–1818) was an Irish-American captain in the Massachusetts State Navy. Prior to its existence (or that of the Continental Navy), he commanded the sloop ''Unity'' when he captured the Royal Navy, British armed s ...
and his five brothers Gideon, John, William, Dennis, and Joseph who, together on the sloop ''Unity'', captured a British warship during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
''O'Brien'' was
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
by
William Cramp & Sons
William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company (also known as William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company) of Philadelphia was founded in 1830 by William Cramp, and was the preeminent U.S. iron shipbuilder of the late 19th century.
Company hi ...
of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
in September 1913 and
launched in July 1914.
After her May 1915
commissioning, ''O'Brien'' sailed off the
east coast and in the
Caribbean. She was one of seventeen destroyers sent out to rescue survivors from five victims of German submarine off the
Lightship Nantucket
The station named ''Nantucket'' or ''Nantucket Shoals'' was served by a number of lightvessels (also termed lightships) that marked the hazardous Nantucket Shoals south of Nantucket Island. The vessels, given numbers as their "name," had the st ...
in October 1916. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, ''O'Brien'' was sent overseas to patrol the
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...
out of
Queenstown, Ireland
Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...
.
After returning to the United States in January 1919, ''O'Brien'' revisited European waters in May to serve as one of the picket ships for the
NC-type seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
s in the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic. ''O'Brien'' was
decommission
Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from an active status, and may refer to:
Infrastructure
* Decommissioned offshore
* Decommissioned highway
* Greenfield status of former industrial sites
* Nuclear dec ...
ed at Philadelphia in June 1922. She was struck from the
Naval Vessel Register
The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...
in March 1935 and sold for
scrapping
Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...
in April.
Design and construction
''O'Brien'' was authorized in March 1913 as the
lead ship
The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.
Large ships are very complex and may ...
of the , which was an improved version of the s authorized in 1911. Construction of the vessel was awarded to
William Cramp & Sons
William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company (also known as William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company) of Philadelphia was founded in 1830 by William Cramp, and was the preeminent U.S. iron shipbuilder of the late 19th century.
Company hi ...
of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
which laid down her keel on 8 September 1913. On 20 July 1914, ''O'Brien'' was launched by sponsor Miss Marcia Bradbury Campbell, great-great-granddaughter of Gideon O'Brien, one of the ship's namesakes. Gideon and his four brothers—John, William, Dennis, and Joseph—were crewmen aboard sloop ''Unity'', under the command of their brother
Jeremiah O'Brien
Captain Jeremiah O'Brien (1744–1818) was an Irish-American captain in the Massachusetts State Navy. Prior to its existence (or that of the Continental Navy), he commanded the sloop ''Unity'' when he captured the Royal Navy, British armed s ...
, when that vessel captured on 12 June 1775 during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
; the destroyer ''O'Brien'' was named after all six brothers, and was the second US Navy vessel named in their honor.
As built, the destroyer was in length,
abeam, and
drew
Drew may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Places
;In the United States
* Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community
* Drew, Mississippi, a city
* Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community
* Drew County, Arkansas ...
.
The ship had a standard
displacement of and displaced when fully loaded.
''O'Brien'' had two Zoelly
steam turbines that drove her two
screw propeller
A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
s, and an additional pair
triple-expansion steam engine
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.
A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up ...
s, each connected to one of the
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 ...
s, for cruising purposes. Four oil-burning
White-Forster boiler
Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, a ...
s powered the engines, which could generate , moving the ship at up to .
''O'Brien''s main
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 ...
consisted of four
/50 caliber Mark 9 guns,
[The ''50'' denotes the length of the gun barrels; in this case, the gun is 50 ]calibers
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore matc ...
, meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as its bore, or in this case. The Mark number is the version of the gun; in this case, the ninth US Navy design of the 4-inch/50 gun. with each gun weighing in excess of .
The guns fired
armor-piercing
Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour.
From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many wars ...
projectiles at . At an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...
of 20°, the guns had a range of .
''O'Brien'' was also equipped with four twin
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. The
General Board of the United States Navy
The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, somewhat akin to a naval general staff and somewhat not. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by Secretary ...
had called for two
anti-aircraft guns for the ''O'Brien''-class ships, as well as provisions for laying up to 36 floating
mines.
From sources, it is unclear if these recommendations were followed for ''O'Brien'' or any of the other ships of the class.
Pre-World War I
''O'Brien'' was commissioned into the United States Navy on 22 May 1915 under the command of
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...
C. E. Courtney, after which she conducted her
shakedown cruise between
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
, and
Hampton Roads, Virginia
Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point where the Chesapeake Bay flows into the Atlantic O ...
.
In fleet exercises off
New York in November, ''O'Brien'' collided with the destroyer , in a minor incident that carried away part of ''Drayton''s
topmast
The masts of traditional sailing ships were not single spars, but were constructed of separate sections or masts, each with its own rigging. The topmast is one of these.
The topmast is semi-permanently attached to the upper front of the lower ...
and
wireless
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
gear. In December, she was assigned to the 5th Division, Torpedo Flotilla,
Atlantic Fleet. From early 1916-spring of 1917, she operated with the Fleet along the East Coast and in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n waters.
At 05:30 on 8 October 1916,
wireless
Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...
reports came in of a German submarine stopping ships near the
Lightship Nantucket
The station named ''Nantucket'' or ''Nantucket Shoals'' was served by a number of lightvessels (also termed lightships) that marked the hazardous Nantucket Shoals south of Nantucket Island. The vessels, given numbers as their "name," had the st ...
, off the eastern end of
Long Island. After an
SOS from the British steamer was received at about 12:30, Rear Admiral
Albert Gleaves
Albert Gleaves (January 1, 1858 – January 6, 1937) was a decorated admiral in the United States Navy, also notable as a naval historian.
Biography
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Gleaves graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1877. ...
ordered ''O'Brien'' and other destroyers at Newport to attend to survivors.
The American destroyers arrived on the scene at about 17:00 when the U-boat, under the command of ''
Kapitänleutnant
''Kapitänleutnant'', short: KptLt/in lists: KL, ( en, captain lieutenant) is an officer grade of the captains' military hierarchy group () of the German Bundeswehr. The rank is rated OF-2 in NATO, and equivalent to Hauptmann in the Heer an ...
''
Hans Rose
Hans Rose (April 18, 1885 – December 6, 1969) was one of the most successful and highly decorated German U-boat commanders in the '' Kaiserliche Marine'' during . He sank 79 ships for a total of during the war.
World War I
In September 1916, ...
,
[ had called at Newport on 7 October 1916, the day before the attacks, to drop off a letter for ]Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff
Johann Heinrich Graf von Bernstorff (14 November 1862 – 6 October 1939) was a German politician and ambassador to the United States from 1908 to 1917.
Early life
Born in 1862 in London, he was the son of one of the most powerful politicians ...
, the German Ambassador to the United States, and had exchanged courtesy visits with Admirals Albert Gleaves
Albert Gleaves (January 1, 1858 – January 6, 1937) was a decorated admiral in the United States Navy, also notable as a naval historian.
Biography
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Gleaves graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1877. ...
and Austin M. Knight
Austin Melvin Knight (December 16, 1854 – February 26, 1927) was an admiral in the United States Navy. He was commander in chief of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet from 1917 to 1918. His 1901 textbook ''Modern Seamanship'' was a standard reference for o ...
before departing. was in the process of stopping the
Holland-America Line
Holland America Line is an American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States.
Holland America Line was founded in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and from 1873 to 1989, it operated ...
cargo ship . Shortly after, ''U-53'' stopped the British passenger ship .
[Long, pp. 93–94.] As Rose had done with three other ships ''U-53'' had sunk earlier in the day,
[The other three ships were the British cargo ships ''West Point'' and , and the Norwegian tanker .] he gave passengers and crew aboard ''Blommersdijk'' and ''Stephano'' adequate time to abandon the ships before sinking the pair.
[Long, p. 93.] In total, 226 survivors from ''U-53''s five victims were rescued by the destroyer flotilla.
In February 1917, one of ''O'Brien''s gun crews hit a target at eight times in eight attempts with one of the destroyer's guns, a feat which earned the crew and ''O'Brien'' recognition in ''The Independent'', a weekly newsmagazine published in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
.
World War I
Returning from winter maneuvers off Cuba in March 1917, the ship was in the
York River when the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April, entering
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. After fitting out at
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
, she got underway from
New York on 15 May with ,
,
,
and ,
and joined convoy at
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...
, ''en route'' to Ireland. Upon arrival at
Queenstown on 24 May, ''O'Brien'' was assigned to the 6th Destroyer Division which cooperated with the British forces. She patrolled off the Irish coast in company with other destroyers answering distress calls and meeting eastbound convoys to escort them through the war zone.
While escorting SS ''Elysia'' off Queenstown on 16 June, lookouts on ''O'Brien'' sighted a
periscope
A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position.
In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...
. Heading toward the
submarine for an attack, a lookout in the foretop saw the submerged boat pass close along the starboard side. A
depth charge was dropped but no immediate evidence of damage was found. Nearly three hours later, the British vessel reported a large patch of oil in approximately the same position. The next morning, ''Cushing'' also reported and confirmed ''Jessamine''s report. The
British Admiralty believed the submarine was probably seriously damaged. However, later investigation reveals that German submarine , the submarine in question, continued to operate and completed her cruise.
In the summer of 1918, ''O'Brien'' was transferred to the French coast where she continued her antisubmarine patrols through the end of the war.
Inter-war period
After the signing of the
Armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
on 11 November, which ended all fighting, ''O'Brien'' transported mail and passengers between
Brest, France
Brest (; ) is a port city in the Finistère department, Brittany. Located in a sheltered bay not far from the western tip of the peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French m ...
, and
Plymouth, England.
She returned to New York on 8 January 1919,
but returned to European waters in May when she served as one of the rescue pickets stationed along the route across the Atlantic flown by three Navy
NC-type seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
s in the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic.
In 1919, she assisted in the unsuccessful first attempt to lay the
Ambrose Channel pilot cable
The Ambrose Channel pilot cable, also called the Ambrose Channel leader cable, was a cable laid in Ambrose Channel at the entrance to the Port of New York and New Jersey that provided an audio tone for guiding ships in and out of port at times o ...
. In July 1920, she was assigned the
hull code of ''DD-51'' under the US Navy's alphanumeric classification system. ''O'Brien'' was
decommissioned at Philadelphia on 5 June 1922.
The ship was struck from the
Naval Vessel Register
The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...
on 8 March 1935,
and
broken up
Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sold for re-use, ...
at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard
The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries.
Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the ci ...
, and her materials sold for scrap on 23 April.
The ship's bell remains in the Plattsburgh Memorial Chapel on the former
Plattsburgh Air Force Base.
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:O'brien (Dd-51)
O'Brien-class destroyers
Ships built by William Cramp & Sons
1914 ships
World War I destroyers of the United States