The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-03-11
DESTROYER FLOTILLA
| NOW ON DUTY ABROAD
Huge Battleships, in European Wa
terS, Bear Names of Heroes.

Three ships OF war had Preble when
he left the Naples shore,
And the knightly king of Naples lent
him seven galleys more.
And never since the Argo tioated in
the Middle Sea.
Such noble men and valiant have
sailed in com pany
AS the men who went with Preble to
the siege of Tripoli--
Stewart, Bainbridge, Hull, Decatur
how their names ring out like
gold;
Lawrence, Porter, Trippe, Macdon-
ough, and a score as true and bold.
I From Reuben James,
by James Jeffrey Roche.
Al half-past one the squadron
stood for the batteries; at two they
cast off the gun-boatS; at half-past
two the signal was given for the
| bomb-vessels and boats to advance
| and attack, and in fifteen minutes
after the signal was given, general
action was begun by the bomb-ves-
sells throwing shells into the city"
Thus was begun in 1903 one of
| the most brilliant engagements in
| the history of war, an engagement
| that astounded the world powers be-
cause il was instituted by the infant
| United States, and because it ended
! forever the paying of tribute to the
| piratical Barbary nations.
| With Commodore Preble sailed
group of intrepid young officers
whose names and deeds then and la
ter furnished the traditions that
| have in a large measure made the
navy of the United States invincible.
Stewart, Bainbridge, Hull, Decatur
how their names ring out like
Lawrence, Potter, Trippe, Macdon-
ough, and a score as true and
bold"
Now, one hundred and fifteen years
since these men became famous, and
the first time since then that an
! American fleet has been engaged in
European waterS-now, in the world
war, the namesakes of those naval
heroes of century past are engag-
ed against common foe. These
| namesakes, destroyers, are battling
to clear the seas of the piratical sub
marines, just as in the past those
for whom the destroyers are named
ended piracy Oh the high seas, and
stopped the paying of tribute.
The record of the American navy
! throughout the years has been one
of heroic deeds and victory. The
! Revolution, the war of 1898, that of
1912, the campaigns against the Bar
| barry powers, the Civil War, the
| Spanish American War-each pro-
duced its naval heroes.
And now the World War!
Are the heroic deeds of naval his
| tory to be repeatedg
They are, without a doubt! The
| officers of the navy of today have de-.
/ voted their lives to study of the
deeds of their predecessors. They:
{ have trained themselves for 1ha'
1 iasS OF defeating the Gerfnan naayl:
and victory in the end is certain.
Battleships and cruisers of the ila-1
~ are named for States and cities.
| The destroyers are named for famous
naval officers, and 4 destroyer tlotil-
| la is on duty abroad. The names of
the destroyers making up this fotil-
la are withheld from the public at
| the governments request; therefore
in the articles to follow. giving brief
ly some of the deeds Of the E,''n for
| whom destroyers are named, no
mention will be made of the where
abouts of the destroyer. 1t is safe
to say that each destroyer named in
these articles, if not now engaged,
will within a short time be doing its
share of the Navy's huge task.
Traditions, how mech they mean
to every one. Why should not new
history be written by men command
ing vessels whose very names mean
the most self-sacrifcing, most hero
ic, most glorious of naval deeds!
An interesting fact in naval his
tory is that seven of the nine men
named in the above verse comman-
ded the most famous ship in early
naval annals. In THE Romance of
the American Navy" Frederick Stan
hope Hill says:
1T is very doubtful if the naval
history of any nation can show
more brilliant record, for vessel of
her size, than was made during the
| first fifteen years of the past CEN
tury blythe little twelve-gun schoon-
er Enterprise, afterward rigged as a
brig.
During her very active service in
the West Indies, in the war between
the United States and France in
179S-99, as we'll as later in the Med
iterranean, where she took part in
our conflict with the Beys of Tunis
and Tripoli, the Enterprise inyari-
ably gave a good account of herself,
as might have been expected when
we note the men, afterward famous
in naval history, who as lieutenants
commanded her.
Among these were the sturdy Is
aac Hull, ten years later the gallant
/ 4 c,,1
Stephen Decatur, whose heroic ex-
plot in the destruction of the Phila-
delphia in the Bay of Tripoli was the
prelude to Ion gand brilliant .
| Other captains of the little Enter
prise were Charles Stewart, who
when i'll command of the CoEstitu-
ton captured the Cyane and Levant;
David Porter, of Essex fame, father
of the late admiral of the navy; and
among her officers were James Law
renee, the "Bayard of the Sea-" who
gave UP his life on the deck of the
.ill-fated Chesapeake: Joseph Balm
bridge, and Thomas Macdonough,
iwho gained the glorious victory over
the British on Lake Champlain "
Another fact worthy of mention is
that four of these men commanded
the Constitution, affectionately cali
ed "Old Ironsides," the last ship that
links the old navy with the new.
Aboard the Constitution those he
roes of a century ago fought and
won many bloody battles. Today
the Constitution is a center of inter
est, because of the bygone valor she
represents.
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