USS Decatur (DD-5)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Decatur.

300px USS Decatur (DD-5)
Career (United States)
Name:	USS Decatur (DD-5)
Namesake:	Stephen Decatur
Builder:	William R. Trigg Company, Richmond, Virginia
Laid down:	26 July 1899
Launched:	26 September 1900
Commissioned:	19 May 1902
Decommissioned:	20 July 1919
Fate:	Sold on 3 January 1920 and broken up for scrap.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Bainbridge-class destroyer
Displacement:	420 tons (380 tonnes)
Length:	250 ft (76 m)
Beam:	23 ft 7 in (7,190 mm)
Draft:	6 ft 6 in (1,980 mm)
Propulsion:	2-shaft reciprocating engines
Speed:	28 kn (32 mph; 52 km/h)
Complement:	73 officers and enlisted
Armament:	2 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns, 2 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes

The second USS Decatur (DD-5) was a Bainbridge-class destroyer in the United States Navy. She was named in honor of Stephen Decatur.

Decatur was launched on 26 September 1900 by William R. Trigg Company, Richmond, Virginia; sponsored by Miss M. D. Mayo, great-grandniece of Commodore Decatur; and commissioned on 19 May 1902, Lieutenant Lloyd Horwitz Chandler in command.

Pre-World War I

Decatur was designated lead vessel of the 1st Torpedo Flotilla with which she conducted drills and maneuvers along the Eastern Seaboard and in the Caribbean until December 1903, when the flotilla departed Norfolk for the Asiatic Station, sailing by way of the Suez Canal.

Arriving at Cavite, Philippines, on 14 April 1904, Decatur exercised along the China coast and cruised in Philippine waters until placed in reserve at Cavite on 5 December 1905. For the next three years, she made infrequent cruises, including one to the southern Philippines in January-February 1908 and Saigon in May 1908.

Placed out of commission on 18 February 1909, Decatur was placed in commission in reserve on 22 April 1910 and in full commission on 22 December. She resumed operations with the Torpedo Flotilla, cruising in the southern Philippines and between ports of China and Japan until on 1 August 1917, when she departed for the Mediterranean.

World War I

Assigned to US Patrol Squadrons, Decatur arrived at Gibraltar on 20 October for patrol and convoy duty in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean until on 8 December 1918. Decatur arrived at Philadelphia on 6 February 1919 and was decommissioned there on 20 June. She was sold on 3 January 1920.

Admiral Chester Nimitz commanded her in the Philippines early in his career.

References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

• O'Neal, Kirkman (1974) O'Neal Steel: Memoirs of Kirkman O'Neal. Birmingham: private printing - includes a wartime diary kept by Lietenant Kirkman O'Neal serving aboard the Decatur from January to December 1918.