USS Stockton (DD-73)
Encyclopedia
USS Stockton (DD-73), a , served in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, and later in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 as HMS Ludlow.

The second US Navy ship named for Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 Robert F. Stockton
Robert F. Stockton
Robert Field Stockton was a United States naval commodore, notable in the capture of California during the Mexican-American War. He was a naval innovator and an early advocate for a propeller-driven, steam-powered navy. Stockton was from a notable political family and also served as a U.S...

 (1795–1866), Stockton was laid down on 16 October 1916 by William Cramp & Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

; launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 17 July 1917, sponsored by Miss Ellen Emelie De Martelly and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 26 November 1917, Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 H. A. Baldridge in command.

United States Navy

Stockton spent the last year of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 assigned to convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...

 escort and antisubmarine duty, operating out of Queenstown, Ireland. During that time, she engaged an enemy U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

 on at least one occasion. On 30 March 1918, she and were escorting the troopship St. Paul on the Queenstown-Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 circuit, when Ericsson opened fire on a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

. The submerged enemy launched a torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

 at Stockton almost immediately thereafter, and the destroyer narrowly evaded the "fish." The two destroyers dropped patterns of depth charge
Depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon intended to destroy or cripple a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a preselected depth in the ocean. Depth charges can be dropped by either surface ships, patrol aircraft, or from...

s, but the U-boat managed to evade their attack and escaped. Later that night, Stockton collided with Slieve Bloom
TSS Slieve Bloom (1908)
TSS Slieve Bloom was a twin screw steamer cargo vessel operated by the London and North Western Railway from 1908 to 1918.-History:She was built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim Ltd of Barrow-in-Furness for the London and North Western Railway in 1908. She was named after the Slieve Bloom Mountains in...

 near South Stack
South Stack
South Stack is an island situated just off Holy Island on the North West coast of Anglesey. It is famous as the location of one of Wales' most spectacular lighthouses.-South Stack Lighthouse:...

 Light. The destroyer had to put into Liverpool for repairs and the merchantman sank.

Royal Navy

Stockton returned to the United States in 1919, and for three years continued to serve with the fleet. On 26 June 1922, she was placed out of commission and laid up at Philadelphia. Stockton was recommissioned on 16 August 1940 and shuttled to Halifax, where she was decommissioned on the 23 August and turned over to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 under the provisions of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement
Destroyers for Bases Agreement
The Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, September 2, 1940, transferred fifty mothballed destroyers from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions...

. She served the Royal Navy as HMS Ludlow until decommissioning in June 1945. Following decommission, Ludlow was beached off Fidra Island, Firth of Forth on 15 July 1945 to be used as a rocket target by the RAF. It is reputed that the first salvo of rockets hit just below the water line and sank her. She now lies off Yellowcraigs beach in 6m of water (Ord Survey NT 522 861) and, although well broken up, her remains are still visible just above the surface at low tide.

Her name was struck from the US Navy list
Naval Vessel Register
The Naval Vessel Register 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 the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

on 8 January 1941.
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