USS McDougal (DD-54)
Encyclopedia

USS McDougal (Destroyer No. 54/DD-54) was an built for 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...

 prior to the American entry into 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...

. The ship was the second U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of David Stockton McDougal
David McDougal
David Stockton McDougal was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War most noted for his leadership during a naval battle off of Japan.-Biography:...

, a U.S. Navy officer notable for his leadership during an 1863 battle off Japan while in command of .

McDougal was laid down by Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...

 of Bath, Maine
Bath, Maine
Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River, Bath is a port of entry with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its...

, in July 1913 and launched in April 1914. The ship was a little more than 305 feet (93 m) in length, just over 31 feet (9.4 m) abeam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

, and had a standard displacement of 1020 long tons (1,036.4 MT). She was armed with four 4 inches (102 mm) guns and had eight 21 inches (533 mm) torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...

s. McDougal was powered by a pair of steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

s that propelled her at up to 29 knots.

After her June 1914 commissioning, McDougal sailed off the east coast
East Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

 and in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. She was one of seventeen destroyers sent out to rescue survivors from five victims of German submarine off the Lightship Nantucket
Lightship Nantucket
The Lightship Nantucket station was the name given to the lightvessel which marked the hazardous Nantucket Shoals in Massachusetts. Several ships have been commissioned and served at the Nantucket Shoals lightship station and have been called Nantucket...

 in October 1916, and carried 6 crewmen from a sunken Dutch cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...

 to Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, McDougal was part of the first U.S. destroyer squadron sent overseas. Patrolling the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...

 out of Queenstown, Ireland, McDougal made several unsuccessful attacks on U-boats, and rescued survivors of ships sunk by the German craft. After a collision with a British cargo ship in February 1918, McDougal was under repair until mid-July, and afterwards, operated out of Brest, France
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

.

Upon returning to the United States after the war, McDougal conducted operations with the destroyers of the Atlantic Fleet until August 1919, when she was placed in reserve, still in commission. After a brief stint of operations in mid 1921, she was placed in reserve until she was decommissioned at Philadelphia
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,...

 in May 1922. In June 1924, Ericsson was transferred to the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 to help enforce Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

 as a part of the "Rum Patrol
Rum Patrol
The Rum Patrol was an operation of the United States Coast Guard to interdict liquor smuggling vessels, known as "rum runners" in order to enforce prohibition in American waters. On 18 December 1917, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states by Congress...

". She operated under the name USCGC McDougal (CG-6) until May 1933, when she was returned to the Navy. In November she dropped her name to free it for a new destroyer of the same name
USS McDougal (DD-358)
The second USS McDougal was a in the United States Navy. She named for Rear Admiral David Stockton McDougal.McDougal was laid down by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, 18 December 1933; launched 17 July 1936; sponsored by Miss Caroline McDougal Neilson; and commissioned 23...

, becoming known only as DD-54. She was struck for the Naval Vessel Register
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...

 in July 1934 and sold for scrapping
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...

 in August.

Design and construction

McDougal was authorized in March 1913 as the fourth of six ships of the , which was an improved version of the s authorized in 1911. Construction of the vessel was awarded to Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...

 of Bath, Maine
Bath, Maine
Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River, Bath is a port of entry with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its...

, which laid down her keel on 29 July 1913. On 22 April 1914, McDougal was launched by sponsor Miss Marguerite S. LeBreton, granddaughter of the Commander
Commander (United States)
In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...

 David Stockton McDougal
David McDougal
David Stockton McDougal was an officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War most noted for his leadership during a naval battle off of Japan.-Biography:...

, the ship's namesake. The ship was the first U.S. Navy ship named for McDougal, notable for his leadership during an 1863 battle off Japan while in command of . As built, the destroyer was 305 in 6 in (93.12 m) in length, 31 in 1 in (9.47 m) abeam
Beam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...

, and drew 9 in 6 in (2.9 m). The ship had a standard displacement of 1020 long tons (1,036.4 MT) and displaced 1171 long tons (1,189.8 MT) when fully loaded.

McDougal had two Zoelly steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....

s that drove her two screw propellers, and an additional triple-expansion steam engine connected to one of the propeller shafts for cruising purposes. Four oil-burning White-Forster boilers powered the engines, which could generate 17000 shp, moving the ship at the design speed of 29 knots. During her acceptance trials in May 1914, McDougal averaged 31.02 knots in a 15-minute run, but topped out at 33.7 knots for a 4 nautical miles (7.4 km), top-speed run.

McDougals main battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

 consisted of four 4 inches (102 mm)/50 Mark 9 guns,The 50 denotes the length of the gun barrels; in this case, the gun is 50 calibers, meaning that the gun is 50 times as long as its bore, or 200 inches (5.1 m) in this case. The Mark number is the version of the gun; in this case, the ninth U.S. Navy design of the 4-inch/50 gun. with each gun weighing in excess of 6100 lbs. The guns fired 33 lbs armor-piercing
Armor-piercing shot and shell
An armor-piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions...

 projectile
Projectile
A projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....

s at 2900 feet per second (883.9 m/s). At an elevation
Elevation (ballistics)
In ballistics, the elevation is the angle between the horizontal plane and the direction of the barrel of a gun, mortar or heavy artillery. Originally, elevation was a linear measure of how high the gunners had to physically lift the muzzle of a gun up from the gun carriage to hit targets at a...

 of 20°, the guns had a range of 15920 yards.

McDougal was also equipped with eight 21 inches (533 mm) torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...

s. The General Board of the United States Navy
General Board of the United States Navy
The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, effectively a naval general staff. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by John Davis Long. The order was officially recognized by Congress in 1916...

 had called for two anti-aircraft guns for the O'Brien-class ships, as well as provisions for laying up to 36 floating mines. From sources, it is unclear if these recommendations were followed for McDougal or any of the other ships of the class.

Early career

USS McDougal was commissioned into the United States Navy on 16 June 1914 at Boston under the temporary command of Lieutenant, junior grade
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, United States Merchant Marine USMM, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade...

, John H. Hoover
John H. Hoover
Admiral John Howard Hoover held several flag commands during World War II most notably those in the Central Pacific under Chester W. Nimitz...

; Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant commander (United States)
Lieutenant commander is a mid-ranking officer rank in the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps, with the pay grade of O-4 and NATO rank code OF-3...

 Leigh C. Palmer assumed command on 27 July. After a shakedown cruise, McDougal began duty with the Torpedo Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet
U.S. Atlantic Fleet
The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...

. Prior to America’s entry into 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...

, she operated out of New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

, and carried out maneuvers and tactical exercises along the east coast.

In early April 1915, McDougal and destroyer were temporarily assigned to patrol near the New York Quarantine Station. There were concerns by Dudley Field Malone
Dudley Field Malone
Dudley Field Malone was an attorney, politician, liberal activist and actor.-Biography:The son of Tammany Democratic official William C...

, the local port collector, that some of the interned German steamships at New York might try to slip out during a heavy snowstorm. While onboard on McDougal during one of these patrols, Malone discovered what The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

termed a "widespread conspiracy" intended to supply British warships outside of U.S. territorial waters, in violation of the American neutrality in World War I.

She cruised to the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 and took part in fleet war games between January and May 1916, and in addition served intermittently with the Neutrality patrol
Neutrality Patrol
At the beginning of World War II, when Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 started the hostilities in Europe, President Franklin D...

. In May, she was declared the "champion smokeless vessel" of the U.S. Navy by The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...

after she was able to steam at 30 knots for four hours without betraying her position by smoke. In June, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

reported that she was damaged during maneuvers off Cape Ann
Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky cape in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. The cape is located approximately 30 miles northeast of Boston and forms the northern edge of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester, and the towns of Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and...

, and had to put in to the Boston Navy Yard
Boston Navy Yard
The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...

 for leak repairs.

At 05:30 on Sunday, 8 October 1916, wireless
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 reports came in of a German submarine stopping ships near the Lightship Nantucket
Lightship Nantucket
The Lightship Nantucket station was the name given to the lightvessel which marked the hazardous Nantucket Shoals in Massachusetts. Several ships have been commissioned and served at the Nantucket Shoals lightship station and have been called Nantucket...

, off the eastern end of Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

. After an SOS
SOS
SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal...

 from the British steamer was received at about 12:30, Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves
Albert Gleaves
Albert Gleaves was an admiral in the United States Navy, also notable as a naval historian.-Biography:...

 ordered McDougal and other destroyers at Newport to attend to survivors.According to a report in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

on 9 October the other ships, in addition to McDougal, were the flotilla's destroyer tender
Destroyer tender
A destroyer tender is a ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of the 20th century as the roles of small combatants have evolved .Due to the increased size and automation of...

, , and sixteen other destroyers: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . See:
According to a firsthand account of the events by Nathan Levy, a quartermaster on McDougal, published on 22 October in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, the destroyer steamed the 100 nautical miles (185.2 km) distance to the lightship in three-and-a-half hours, arriving after German submarine had stopped the Holland America Line
Holland America Line
The Holland America Line is a cruise shipping company. It was founded in 1873 as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company , a shipping and passenger line. Headquartered in Rotterdam and providing service to the Americas, it became known as Holland America Line...

 cargo ship and the British passenger ship . had called at Newport on 7 October 1916, the day before the attacks, to drop off a letter for Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff
Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff
Johann Heinrich Graf von Bernstorff was a German politician and the ambassador to the United States and Mexico from 1908 to 1917.- Early life :...

, the German Ambassador to the United States, and Kapitänleutnant Hans Rose
Hans Rose
Lieutenant Commander Hans Rose was one of the most successful and highly decorated German U-boat commander in the Kaiserliche Marine during .Rose was one of the most respected and brave U-boat commanders and famous for his humanity and fairness in battle...

 had exchanged courtesy visits with Admirals Gleaves
Albert Gleaves
Albert Gleaves was an admiral in the United States Navy, also notable as a naval historian.-Biography:...

 and Austin M. Knight
Austin M. Knight
Austin Melvin Knight was an admiral in the United States Navy. He was commander in chief of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet from 1917 to 1918...

 before departing.
As Rose had done with three other ships U-53 had sunk earlier in the day,The other three ships were the British cargo ships West Point and and the Norwegian tanker
Tank ship
A tanker is a ship designed to transport liquids in bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and the liquefied natural gas carrier.-Background:...

 .
he gave passengers and crew aboard Blommersdijk and Stephano adequate time to abandon the ships. After sinking Blommersdijk with two torpedoes, Rose focused his attention on Stephano, having to signal McDougal and to ask that the two destroyers move farther away so that he could sink the British ship. Six American destroyers witnessed U-53 sink the liner with her deck gun
Deck gun
A deck gun is a type of artillery cannon mounted on the deck of a ship or submarine.The deck gun was used as a defensive weapon against smaller boats or ships and in certain cases where torpedo use was limited. Typically a crew of three; gunner, loader, and layer, operated the gun, while others...

. In total, 226 survivors from U-53s five victims were rescued by the destroyer flotilla; McDougal rescued 6 of Blommersdijks men.

McDougal returned to the Caribbean for exercises during the first three months of 1917, and then returned to New York and Newport to prepare for distant service.

World War I

Soon after the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917, McDougal departed for Europe as a part of the first U.S. destroyer division sent overseas during the war. Steaming with , the division's flagship, under the command of Joseph K. Taussig, McDougal, , , , and departed New York on 24 April and arrived at Queenstown, Ireland, on 4 May and began patrolling the southern approaches to the Irish Sea
Irish Sea
The Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...

 the next day. McDougal patrolled off the Irish coast, escorting convoys of merchant ships and troop transports, searching for German submarines, and performing rescue operations for ships sunk. When British ship was torpedoed and sunk by on 5 June 1917, McDougal sped to her assistance and rescued 33 survivors.

On 8 September, as McDougal escorted a convoy off the southwest coast of England, she detected a surfaced submarine in the early morning hours and gave chase at full speed. The U-boat submerged about 500 yards ahead of the closing destroyer, and McDougal dropped two depth charges which brought an oil slick to the surface. According to the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy...

, McDougals actions prevented an attack on the convoy and resulted in "probable damage" to the submarine.

On 4 February 1918, McDougal and the British cargo ship Glenmorag collided in the Irish Sea. The destroyer made her way to 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...

 and underwent repairs that lasted until mid-July. Upon reentering service, McDougal was transferred to Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...

 to serve as an escort for convoys approaching the French port.

Postwar

Following the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, which ended all fighting, McDougal remained in French waters for a time. Crewmen aboard McDougal helped raise money to provide a Thanksgiving dinner
Thanksgiving dinner
The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted turkey. The majority of the dishes in the...

 for 150 "poor children" of Brest on 28 November, Thanksgiving Day in the United States. When President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

 arrived at Brest on just over two weeks later, the destroyer served as part of that transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...

's escort into the harbor. On 21 December, McDougal departed Brest 21 December with Destroyer Division 7 and reached New York 8 January 1919.

McDougal resumed duty along the east coast and, during May, provided part of the comprehensive at-sea support as U.S. Navy seaplane
Seaplane
A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

s undertook the historic first aerial crossing of the Atlantic
NC-4
The NC-4 was a Curtiss NC flying boat which was designed by Glenn Curtiss and his team, and manufactured by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. In May 1919, the NC-4 became the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, starting in the United States and making the crossing as far as Lisbon,...

. After completing exercises in the Caribbean, she was placed in commission, in reserve at New York on 7 August. She was laid up in reduced commission at Philadelphia
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,...

 and Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

, in the years that followed. She was reactivated for training in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 waters during the summer of 1921, but returned to Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on 26 May 1922.

United States Coast Guard career

On 17 January 1920, Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...

 was instituted by law in the United States. Soon, the smuggling of alcoholic beverages along the coastlines of the United States became widespread and blatant. The Treasury Department eventually determined that the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...

 simply did not have the ships to constitute a successful patrol. To cope with the problem, President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...

 in 1924 authorized the transfer from the Navy to the Coast Guard of twenty old destroyers that were in reserve and out of commission. McDougal was activated and acquired by the Coast Guard on 7 June 1924. Designated CG-6, McDougal was commissioned on 28 May 1925, and joined the "Rum Patrol
Rum Patrol
The Rum Patrol was an operation of the United States Coast Guard to interdict liquor smuggling vessels, known as "rum runners" in order to enforce prohibition in American waters. On 18 December 1917, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states by Congress...

" to aid in the attempt to enforce prohibition laws.

In August 1929, McDougal and were dispatched to locate and sink the steamer Quimistan, which had been reported as abandoned and on fire in the Atlantic 1100 nautical miles (2,037.2 km) east of Norfolk, Virginia. In April 1933, McDougal was one of the Coast Guard ships deployed to search for the U.S. Navy airship when it crashed into the Atlantic on the night of 3/4 April. Later that same month, McDougal was dispatched to help the Italian steamer Voluntas when she had requested assistance on the 23rd, but was recalled when Voluntas rescinded the call for help.

After nearly eight years of Coast Guard service, McDougal was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 26 May 1933 and returned to the custody of the U.S. Navy on 30 June. On 1 November 1933, she dropped the name McDougal to free it for a new destroyer of the same name
USS McDougal (DD-358)
The second USS McDougal was a in the United States Navy. She named for Rear Admiral David Stockton McDougal.McDougal was laid down by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, 18 December 1933; launched 17 July 1936; sponsored by Miss Caroline McDougal Neilson; and commissioned 23...

, becoming known only as DD-54. The ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register
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 5 July 1934, and, on 22 August, was sold for scrapping
Ship breaking
Ship breaking or ship demolition is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for scrap recycling. Most ships have a lifespan of a few decades before there is so much wear that refitting and repair becomes uneconomical. Ship breaking allows materials from the ship, especially...

 in accordance with the London Naval Treaty
London Naval Treaty
The London Naval Treaty was an agreement between the United Kingdom, the Empire of Japan, France, Italy and the United States, signed on April 22, 1930, which regulated submarine warfare and limited naval shipbuilding. Ratifications were exchanged in London on October 27, 1930, and the treaty went...

for the limitation of naval armaments.

External links

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