USS Macdonough (DD-9)

The first USS Macdonough (DD-9) was a Lawrence-class destroyer, which was a sub-class of Bainbridge-class destroyer, in the United States Navy. She was named for Commodore Thomas Macdonough

For other ships with the same name, see USS Macdonough.

USS Macdonough (DD-9) at anchor in 1908.
History
United States
Name: Macdonough
Namesake: Commodore (United States) Thomas Macdonough awarded Congressional Gold Medal
Builder: Fore River Ship & Engine Company, Weymouth, Massachusetts
Laid down: 21 April 1899
Launched: 24 December 1900
Sponsored by: Miss Lucy Shaler Macdonough, granddaughter of Commodore Thomas Macdonough
Commissioned: 5 September 1903
Decommissioned: 3 September 1919
Stricken: 7 November 1919
Identification:
Fate: Sold, 10 March 1920
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Lawrence-class destroyer sub-class of Bainbridge-class destroyer
Displacement: 400 long tons (410 t) (standard)
Length: 246 ft 3 in (75.06 m) (oa)
Beam: 22 ft 3 in (6.78 m)
Draft: 9 ft 5 in (2.87 m)
Installed power: 8,400 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion:
Speed: 30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h)
Capacity: 108 short tons (98 t) coal[2]
Complement: 73 officers and enlisted
Armament:

Construction

Macdonough was laid down on 10 April 1899, by the Fore River Ship & Engine Company, Weymouth, Massachusetts; launched on 24 December 1900; sponsored by Miss Lucy Shaler Macdonough, granddaughter of Commodore Macdonough; and commissioned on 5 September 1903.

Pre-World War I

Macdonough failed to make the design speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) during trials, and along with her fellow Fore River-built destroyer Lawrence proved to have poor sea keeping. Both ships had their two 3-inch guns replaced by six-pounder guns, giving a gun armament of seven six-pounders.

After shakedown, Macdonough spent seven months as a training ship for midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. On 31 May 1904, she joined the Coast Squadron, North Atlantic Fleet and for the next three years operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean. She was ordered to the Reserve Torpedo Fleet at Norfolk on 16 May 1907 and served with that fleet until the following year.

Placed in full commission on 21 November 1908, Macdonough became the flagship of the 3rd Torpedo Flotilla and sailed for Pensacola, Florida. She participated in operations out of that port until the following spring when she returned to the east coast. During the summer of 1909, she cruised with the Atlantic Torpedo Squadron off New England. She then returned to the Gulf of Mexico and steamed up the Mississippi River for the St. Louis Centennial Celebration. Returning to the east coast in December, she was placed in reserve at Charleston, South Carolina on the 16th. Macdonough took part in summer exercises during the summer of 1910 and returned to Charleston, where, with the exception of two cruises to New York, she remained for the next two years. In 1913 and 1914, she conducted summer cruises for the Massachusetts Naval Militia.

World War I

On 29 January 1915, Macdonough was detached from the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla and assigned to the Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet. For the next two years, she operated with submarines in maneuvers and exercises from Pensacola to Newport, Rhode Island. Following this duty, she commenced, on 27 March 1917, a recruiting cruise along the Mississippi River. In mid-June the ship departed New Orleans, Louisiana for Charleston where she joined the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet. Until January 1918, she performed screening assignments off the east coast. On 16 January 1918, she departed Philadelphia for Brest, France, arriving 20 February. She remained off the coast of France, providing escort and patrol services until 20 May 1919. Sailing for the United States, she arrived at Philadelphia on 24 June and remained in that port until decommissioned on 3 September. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 November 1919 and her hulk was sold for scrapping on 10 March 1920.

Noteworthy commanding officers

Notes
  1. "USS Macdonough (DD-9)". Navsource.org. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  2. (2001) Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I, pg. 148. Random House, London. ISBN 1-85170-378-0
  3. "Lawrence Class". Destroyer History Foundation. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  • Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
  • Captain Harvey S. Haislip, USN (Ret.). "A Memory of Ships". Proceedings. 103/9/895.
  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
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