U.S.S. Brooks (1919)

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U.S.S. Brooks (1919)
Hull Number: DD-232
Builder: New York Shipbuilding[1]
Laid down: 11 Jun, 1918[2]
Launched: 24 Apr, 1919[3]
Commissioned: 18 Jun, 1920[4]
Decommissioned: 2 Aug, 1945[5]
Stricken: 17 Sep, 1945
Sold: 30 Jan, 1946[6]
Fate: Broken up

U.S.S. Brooks was one of one hundred and fifty-six Clemson Class destroyers completed for the U.S. Navy. She was one of just five Clemsons to have 5-in/51cal guns in lieu of the standard 4-in/50cal models.

Service

Brooks was commissioned on 18 June, 1920 with Lieutenant Donald MacL. Dalton in command.

In late 1920 the Brooks was at the center of a diplomatic incident at Kiel. According to a later statement by Commander Theodore Ellyson:

A German naval officer boarded the ship, Commander Ellyson said, and ordered him to leave. When he refused, another German officer, commanding the port, came aboard.
"He told me that the Brooks could not remain in the harbor, as the United States was still at war with Germany," Commander Ellyson said. "I repeated my orders and declined to go. Then he said he would give me 30 minutes to clear out of the harbor or I would be cannonaded. I did not tell him to 'Go to h—,' as it has been reported I said, or that I had as much ammunition as he had. I continued, however, to refuse to go."[7]

The German officers took no further action. Ellyson was subsequently relieved of command and transferred back to the United States after he reported the incident to Rear Admiral Charles F. Hughes, returning home aboard the Army transport Cantigny.[8] Ellyson's replacement as commanding officer of the Brooks was Commander Victor S. Houston.[9]

Captains

See Also

Footnotes

  1. Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 435.
  2. Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 435.
  3. Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 435.
  4. Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 435.
  5. Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 435.
  6. Friedman. U.S. Destroyers. p. 435.
  7. "Denies He Threatened Germans". Army and Navy Register. 3 January, 1921. Vol. LXIX, No. 2,112, p. 29.
  8. "Refused to Leave Kiel When Ordered By Germans". The Herald Democrat (Leadville, Colorado). Tuesday, 4 January, 1921. col. 1-2, p. 3.
  9. Register of Officers, 1921. pp. 26-27.
  10. Register of Officers, 1921. pp. 22-23.
  11. Register of Officers, 1925. pp. 30-31.

Bibliography


Clemson Class Destroyer
Clemson Dahlgren Goldsborough Semmes Satterlee
Mason Graham Abel P. Upshur Hunt Welborn C. Wood
George E. Badger Branch Herndon Dallas Chandler
Southard Hovey Long Broome Alden
Smith Thompson Barker Tracy Borie John D. Edwards
Whipple Parrott Edsall MacLeish Simpson
Bulmer McCormick Stewart Pope Peary
Pillsbury Ford Truxtun Paul Jones Hatfield
Brooks Gilmer Fox Kane Humphreys
McFarland James K. Paulding Overton Sturtevant Childs
King Sands Williamson Reuben James Bainbridge
Goff Barry Hopkins Lawrence Belknap
McCook McCalla Rodgers Ingram Bancroft
Welles Aulick Turner Gillis Delphy
McDermut Laub McLanahan Edwards Greene
Ballard Shubrick Bailey Thornton Morris
Tingey Swasey Meade Sinclair McCawley
Moody Henshaw Meyer Doyen Sharkey
Toucey Breck Isherwood Case Lardner
Putnam Worden Flusser Dale Converse
Reid Billingsley Charles Ausburn Osborne Chauncey
Fuller Percival John Francis Burnes Farragut Somers
Stoddert Reno Farquhar Thompson Kennedy
Paul Hamilton William Jones Woodbury S. P. Lee Nicholas
Young Zeilin Yarborough La Vallette Sloat
Wood Shirk Kidder Selfridge Marcus
Mervine Chase Robert Smith Mullany Coghlan
Preston Lamson Bruce Hull Macdonough
Farenholt Sumner Corry Melvin Litchfield
Zane Wasmuth Trever Perry Decatur
  Hulbert Noa William B. Preston  
  Preble Sicard Pruitt  
<– Wickes Class Destroyers (US)