- USS Walker (DD-163)
The first USS "Walker" (DD-163) was a "Wickes" class
destroyer in theUnited States Navy during theWorld War I . She was named for AdmiralJohn Grimes Walker .History
"Walker" was laid down on
19 June 1918 atQuincy, Massachusetts , by theFore River Shipbuilding Company under contract from Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on14 September 1918 ; sponsored by Mrs. Francis Pickering Thomas; and commissioned at theBoston Navy Yard on31 January 1919 , Lieutenant CommanderHarold A. Waddington in command."Walker" got underway on
20 February to rendezvous with transport "George Washington" as it returned from France with PresidentWoodrow Wilson embarked. Upon completion of this duty, the new destroyer returned to Boston, where she was soon assigned to Division 18, Destroyer Force. She proceeded toNewport, Rhode Island , and loaded her full allotment oftorpedo es at the Naval Torpedo Station there. She sailed for theWest Indies on6 March and, soon after her arrival in the Caribbean, fell into the Fleet's regular schedule of exercises and maneuvers. "Walker" conducted tactical exercises offSan Juan, Puerto Rico , and gunnery exercises out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, into the late winter and early spring of 1919 before she headed north.After steaming into New York harbor on
14 April , the destroyer was sent to her base at Newport, R.I. Early the next month, she supported the Navy's NC-boat transatlantic nights. Initially stationed at Trepassy Bay from6 May to8 May , she later operated at sea from the 10th to the 17th, serving as one of the chain ofpicket ship s to provide the NCflying boat s with position reports and bearings. When this mission was completed, she returned to Newport on the 20th.After calling at Annapolis in early June for a two-day visit during Naval Academy graduation exercises, "Walker" headed south and transited the
Panama Canal on24 July . She called briefly atAcapulco , Mexico, for two days before pressing on for southernCalifornia , arriving at Coronado on8 August .Based at
San Diego , "Walker" conducted local operations off the west coast into late 1919, when she was assigned to theReserve Destroyer Flotilla . She embarked naval reservists for an indoctrination cruise on27 October 1920 and remained in "rotating reserve" duty, conducting periodic target practices, full-power runs, and undergoing overhauls at theMare Island Navy Yard . Decommissioned on7 June 1922 , as part of an austerity program, "Walker" was placed in reserve at San Diego, where she remained into the 1930s.After 16 years on "
Red Lead Row ," the ship was struck from the Navy list on28 March 1938 and slated for disposal by sale. Logistics requirements of west coast naval districts, however, resulted in the former destroyer being placed back on the list and earmarked for conversion to a water barge. Redesignated YW-57 on1 April 1939 , the ship was undergoing conversion at the Mare Island Navy Yard when the Navy again decided to change the vessel's role. With the outbreak of war in Europe and the possibility of American involvement in the conflict, the ship was slated for use as adamage control hulk .Fate
Designated DCH-1 on
11 July 1940 , the vessel was based at the Destroyer Base, San Diego, and used for training exercises in formulating and evolving new damage control techniques. In the following year, as the Pacific Fleet's base had been moved from San Diego toPearl Harbor , plans were made to tow DCH-1 (which had been stripped of propulsion machinery during the initial conversion work to YW-57) to the Hawaiian Islands. On28 December 1941 , damage control hulk DCH 1 (IX-44), formerly destroyer Walker (DD-163), while being towed from San Diego, California, to Pearl Harbor, by oiler USS|Neches|AO-5, was cast adrift and scuttled by gunfire from "Neches" at coord|26|35|N|143|49|W.Fact|date=August 2008ee also
*See USS "Walker" for other ships of this name.
*List of United States Navy destroyers References
*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/w2/walker-i.htm
External links
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/163.htm NavSource Photos]
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