USS ''McFarland'' (DD-237/AVD-14) was a in 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

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. She was named for

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sailor and

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. ...

recipient John McFarland. ''McFarland'' was

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on 31 July 1918 and launched on 30 March 1920 by the

New York Shipbuilding Corporation The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

; sponsored by Miss Louisa Hughes; and commissioned on 30 September 1920.

Service history

''McFarland'', having served a month with the Atlantic Fleet, departed for European waters on 30 November 1920. For the next two months she operated in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, sailing for

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on 31 January 1921. On 9 March she arrived at

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for a four-month tour with the Adriatic Detachment. In July she continued eastward, and at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, on 31 July, joined ships of the Turkish Waters Detachment. Returning to the United States only once (8 July to 22 October 1922), ''McFarland'' remained in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

and eastern

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area until spring 1923. During that period she performed quasi-diplomatic and humanitarian roles necessitated by the aftermath of

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 ...

. She cruised regularly to Black Sea and

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n ports, distributing American relief supplies to

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, and Turkish refugees and providing transportation, mail, and communications facilities. ''McFarland'' returned to New York and on 15 September 1923 joined the

Scouting Fleet The Scouting Fleet was created in 1922 as part of a major, post-World War I reorganization of the United States Navy. The Atlantic and Pacific fleets, which comprised a significant portion of the ships in the United States Navy, were combined into ...

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, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. With only two interruptions, she operated along the

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and in the

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for the next 17 years. The first interruption came with a cruise to

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for the 1925 fleet problem involving an attack on

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; the second, a year out of commission, in

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, at

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, 1931. On 2 August 1940, ''McFarland'', undergoing conversion, was redesignated AVD-14,

seaplane tender A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

(destroyer). On 5 October she was recommissioned in full and assigned to the Pacific Fleet.

1923 collision

''McFarland'' was heavily damaged during the early morning of 19 September 1923 after being rammed on the port side forward of her

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by the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

during night maneuvers off of the Cape Cod Canal. The training exercise was being undertaken by ''Arkansas'', the battleship , the auxiliary ship and a

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class ...

of a dozen destroyers. ''McFarland'' was towed to

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by the destroyer .Rome Daily Sentinel

World War II

On 7 December 1941, ''McFarland'', operating out of

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, was conducting

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maneuvers off

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. Receiving word of the Japanese attack, she patrolled to the southwest, returning to Oahu on 9 December. For the next seven months she operated from Pearl Harbor, completing several voyages to

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and

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s. On these missions she carried Marine reinforcements to the islands and returned with civilian personnel. ''McFarland'' sailed for the South Pacific 2 June 1942. She arrived at Noumea on 16 June and within a month she made her first contact with an enemy submarine in Bulari Pass, 15 July. In August, as the

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

offensive neared, she assumed tender duties in the

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–

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area. Assigned to keeping the supply lines open, ''McFarland'' carried supplies to the embattled island and evacuated wounded marine personnel while the planes she tendered performed scouting and fighting missions. On 16 October, ''McFarland'' was unloading cargo and embarking wounded personnel in Lunga Roads when she was attacked by nine

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

s. While the first seven scored no hits, the eighth hit a gasoline barge in tow alongside the tender's starboard quarter. The blazing barge was cut loose as the ninth plane made its run. At least one bomb hit ''McFarland''s stern, knocking out her rudder and steering engine. Her crew shot down one plane, but lost eleven of its members in the fight; five killed, six missing, with an additional 12 critically wounded. For this action, the ship was awarded the first ever US Navy Presidential Unit Citation. ''McFarland'' was towed to

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, where she moored to the beach in the upper channel (later called McFarland Channel) of

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 18 ...

harbor. She completed makeshift repairs to her hull by 26 November and sailed to Espiritu Santo, where further repairs increased her seaworthiness. On 17 December she began to make her way back to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 29 December. Repairs completed by 17 April 1943, ''McFarland'' sailed for the west coast. Redesignated DD-237 on 1 December 1943, and homeported at

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for the remainder of the war, she operated with

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s as they conducted training exercises and pilot qualification landings. On 30 September 1945, she sailed for the east coast. Decommissioned at Philadelphia on 8 November 1945, she was struck from the

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on 19 December. Her

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was sold for

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on 29 October 1946 to the North American Smelting Company, Philadelphia.

Awards

''McFarland'' received two

battle star A service star is a miniature bronze or silver five-pointed star inch (4.8 mm) in diameter that is authorized to be worn by members of the eight uniformed services of the United States on medals and ribbons to denote an additional award or ser ...

s for her World War II service.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Photo gallery
at Navsource.org

at Naval Historical Center {{DEFAULTSORT:Mcfarland (Dd-237) Clemson-class destroyers World War II destroyers of the United States World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Seaplane tenders of the United States Navy Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation 1920 ships