The USS Whipple on an early Enrique Mull card

USS Whipple (D-15)

The Whipple was a Truxton-class destroyer laid down on 13 November 1899 at Sparrows Point, MD by Maryland Steel Company and launched 15 August 1901.  After training was assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Flotilla and served as flagship while operating in the Caribbean until 1905 when she was placed in reserve.  In July 1906 she started routine training and in November 1907 took part in relief operations after the Kingston earthquake in Jamaica.  She next departed with the 16 battleships of the Great White fleet making calls at Rio de Janeiro, Chile and Peru before conducting target practice in Magdalena Bay.

The USS Truxton

The lead ship of her class, she was launched 15 August 1901 and assigned to 2nd Torpedo Flotilla.  In August of that year she participated in maneuvers off Frenchman Bay, Maine, in the Presidential review by Theodore Roosevelt at Oyster Bay, and in a joint Army-Navy exercise off Portland, Maine.  For the next four years she operated off the Atlantic coast and the Caribbean before being selected to join five other destroyers with the battleships of the fleet on their historic trip.  In 1914 and 1916 she steamed to Mexican waters to protect American interests before duties in 1917 patrolling the Panama Canal.

In support of the War efforts she had many duties of patrol of escort during the war before being sent to Brest, France for duties.  She assisted in the rescue of crew members from the SS Florrence H. when it blew up and on May 18th, while escorting a convoy, she sighted an underwater disturbance and attacked using a pattern of depth charges.  The U-boat UC-56 was able to make her escape by Truxton had performed her duties.  She was decommission at Philadelphia on 18 July 1919 and converted to a mercantile fruit carrier in later years.

The USS Stewart in San Diego during her cruise with the Great White Fleet

The USS Stewart disguised as USS Truxton

The USS Stewart was a Bainbridge-class destroyer laid down on 24 January 1900 at Morris Heights, NY and launched 10 May 1902.  She joined to Coast Squadron of the North Atlantic Fleet and performed exercises and patrols until 1906 when she was placed in reserve at Norfolk, Virginia.  She next departed with the 16 battleships of the Great White fleet making calls at Rio de Janeiro, Chile and Peru before conducting target practice in Magdalena Bay.  She was transferred to the Pacific Fleet after participating in the Naval Review conducted on 8 May 1908 in San Francisco.  During World War I she sailed in January 1918 with Worden, Hopkins, Mcdonough, and Paul Jones to Brest, France and began convoy escort duties off that port.  She participated with the rescue of the crew of the munition ship Florence H and saved nine survivors.  On 23 April, Stewart sighted two seaplanes dropping bombs on an enemy submarine.  She dropped two depth charges by U-108 survived a couple more days before Porter damaged her and she surrendered.  She completed her duties in Brest and returned to Philadelphia to be decommissioned on 8 July 1919.  In the two cards at left the hull can be seen as different on the lower card showing it to be a "Truxton-class" destroyer, not as it is labeled, USS Stewart.

The USS Mayflower a Fall River, MA, 1917

The Lawrence was a Bainbridge-class destroyer laid down on 10 April 1899 in Weymouth, MA and launched 7 November 1900.  She was assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Flotilla and provided fleet support until 1906 when she was decommissioned at Philadelphia.  She was recommissioned of 23 July 1907, resumed training exercises, and joined the fleet at Hampton Roads for the cruise.  She was then assigned to the 3rd Torpedo Flotilla of the Pacific Fleet until being decommissioned in 1912.  In April 1914 is was recommissioned and patrolled the Mexican Coast until 1916.  During World War I she guarded the approach to the Panama Canal until being ordered to Key West

Hull in drydock at Norfolk before the cruise
Photo by Brown & Schaeffer

The USS Hull nested with destroyers in San Diego

The Hull was a Bainbridge-class destroyer named for Commodore Isaac Hull.  She was built in Wilmington, Delaware and commissioned on June 21, 1902.  She supported the Atlantic fleet until 1906, decommissioned, then recommissioned in November 1906 when she went to Cuba for fleet training.  She joined the fleet for the cruise and was detached to join the Pacific Fleet after parading in San Francisco.  She departed for the South Pacific in August 1908 and also took part in various exercises in Samoa and Hawaii before returning to San Diego in November.  During WWI she patrolled off of the Panama Canal and then

Torpedo Boats in Norfolk Naval Shipyard - 1907

The Hopkins was a Bainbridge-class destroyer built by Harlan & Hollingsworth of Wilmington Delaware and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard on 23 September 1903.  She joined the Coast Squadron for the next three years and was present for the Presidential review off Oyster Bay in September 1906.  On 29 September, she and Lawrence escorted the President in Mayflower to Cape Code Bay to witness target practice.  She sailed with the Fleet in December 1907 to San Francisco and joined the Pacific fleet for operations on the Pacific Coast as far north as Alaska.  On February 14, 1910, Hopkins suffered a

The Arethusa is yet to become part of my collection!

Built in Stockton, England in 1893 and named the Lucilene, she was purchased by the Navy on 12 August 1898 for duty in the Spanish-American War.  On December 16, 1898 she departed Philadelphia for the West Indies and anchored off Havana, operating in the area until return to Philadelphia in January 1899 and being decommissioned.  Recommissioned in August 1900 she sailed via the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean to arrive on the Asiatic Station to furnish water and supplies to the American warships.  In July 1902 she returned home via the same general route as her transit.

In July 1907 she was given a civilian crew and began providing water to ships of the Atlantic Fleet.  On 29 November she received a new naval complement and recommissioned to serve with the torpedo destroyers that accompanied the Great White Fleet as a tender.  Her last stop with the Fleet was Honolulu reached on June 30th, 1908 when she returned to the Golden Gate and operated in nearby waters until decommissioning at Mare Island in 1909.  She next served to support ships off Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1914.  During WWI she operated in the Azores in a group that consisted of some 40 Allied ships providing services.  At the end of the war she filled her cargo tanks and sailed for France to top off the tanks of destroyers operating out of Marseille.  She continued peacetime operations until beginning decommissioned at Boston and sold on July 7, 1927.