USS Thomas ( DD - 182 ) The first USS " Thomas " ( DD – 182 ) was a " Wickes " class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I . She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS " St Albans " ( I15 ) , as a Town class destroyer , but spent most of the war in the exiled Royal Norwegian Navy , before transferred to the Soviet Navy as Dostoyny . As USS " Thomas " . Named after Clarence Crase Thomas , she was laid down on 23 March 1918 at Newport News , Virginia , by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company ; launched on 4 July 1918 ; sponsored by Mrs . Evelyn M . Thomas , widow of Lieutenant Thomas ; and commissioned on 25 April 1919 , Lieutenant Commander Harry A . McClure in command . " Thomas " operated off the east coast on training cruises and exercises until decommissioned at Philadelphia on 30 June 1922 . During this service , she was classified DD - 182 during the Navy - wide assignment of alphanumeric hull numbers on 17 July 1920 . She lay in reserve in the Philadelphia Navy Yard ' s back channel for the next 18 years . Recommissioned on 17 June 1940 — as the United States Navy expanded to meet the demands imposed by neutrality patrols off American coastlines — " Thomas " was assigned to Destroyer Division 79 of the Atlantic Squadron and operated briefly in training and exercises off the eastern seaboard until transferred to the United Kingdom under the " destroyer - for - bases " agreement . She arrived at Halifax , Nova Scotia , on 18 September 1940 as part of the second increment of the 50 flush - decked , four - piped destroyers exchanged with the British for leases on strategic base sites in the western hemisphere . After a brief familiarization period for the Royal Navy bluejackets assigned to the ship , " Thomas " was officially turned over to her new owners on 23 September 1940 . Her name was subsequently struck from the United States Navy list on 8 January 1941 . As HMS " St Albans " . Simultaneously renamed HMS " St Albans " ( I15 ) and commissioned the same day for service in the Royal Navy , the destroyer sailed for the British Isles on 29 September . After calling at St . John ' s , Newfoundland , en route , she arrived at Belfast , Northern Ireland , on 9 October . " St Albans " and three sister ships — HMS " St Mary ' s " ( I12 ) ( ex - ) , HMS " Bath " ( I17 ) ( ex - ) , and HMS " Charlestown " ( I21 ) ( ex - ) — were attached to the 1st Minelaying Squadron as permanent escort force . Operating off the west coast of Scotland , the destroyers participated in some of the earliest minelaying operations in the Denmark Strait which separates Iceland from Greenland . Between minecraft escort missions , " St Albans " escorted convoys . On 17 and 18 January 1941 , the destroyer searched for survivors from , torpedoed by on the 17th . " St Albans " underwent repairs at Chatham in February to prepare for her transfer to the Royal Norwegian Navy - in - exile on 14 April . As HNoMS " St . Albans " . " St . Albans " had no sooner entered service with the Norwegians than she collided with the minesweeper HMS " Alberic " , sinking the minecraft and sustaining enough damage herself to necessitate repairs in the dockyard . When again ready for action , " St Albans " joined the 7th Escort Group , operating out of Liverpool . On 12 June , she picked up the survivors from the sunken steamship — torpedoed that day by " U - 48 " — and brought them safely to Liverpool . On 3 August 1941 , while bound from Sierra Leone to the United Kingdom in the screen of convoy SL 81 , " St Albans " joined the destroyer HMS " Wanderer " ( D74 ) and the Flower - class corvette HMS " Hydrangea " ( K39 ) in sinking . During subsequent operations screening convoys in shipping lanes between West Africa and the British Isles , " St Albans " made a score of attacks on U - boat s but could not repeat her " kill " performance of 3 August . During the following autumn , a heavy gale severely damaged " St Albans " while she was escorting convoy ON 22 on 8 October . The following day brought little respite from the high seas and strong winds , but " St Albans < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > " s Norwegian sailors brought her safely into Reykjavík , Iceland . The destroyer ' s seaworthiness and the seamanship exhibited by her Norwegian crew elicited a warm commendatory signal from the Commander - in - Chief , Western Approaches ( C - in - C WA ) . In this message of 12 October 1941 , he also praised the destroyer ' s exemplary steaming performance during the previous three months . " St Albans " , meanwhile , continued her escort duties with the 7th Escort Group into 1942 . In March , she escorted the damaged aircraft carrier HMS " Illustrious " from Liverpool to the Clyde and , in the following month , helped to screen convoy PQ 15 as it carried arms to Russia . During the operation , heavy German air and submarine attacks took a toll of three Allied ships . In wartime , however , mistakes in identification or errors in navigation sometimes lead to disaster . On one occasion , these factors combined with tragic results when " St Albans " and the minesweeper HMS " Seagull " sank the Polish submarine " Jastrząb " on 2 May . Five crewmen were killed . A court of Enquiry found that " Jastrząb " was 100 miles out of position , in an area where U - boats were expected to operate , and no blame could be attached to either commander . However this conclusion is disputed by other sources . Later that month , the flush - decked destroyer joined the Liverpool Special Escort Division . Among the vessels escorted early in June was the Cunard - White Star liner RMS " Queen Elizabeth " , as the Cunarder steamed from the British Isles toward the Cape of Good Hope with troops bound for the Middle East . Then , after refitting at Falmouth between July and October 1942 , " St Albans " again operated with the Special Escort Division until the end of 1942 . In January 1943 , she served as a target vessel for training RAF Coastal Command aircraft . Late in February , she got underway and steamed into the North Sea toward the Scandinavian coast to search for a Norwegian merchantman which was reportedly attempting to escape to sea from Nazi - controlled waters . During this mission , the destroyer was attacked by German aircraft but emerged unharmed . Shifted to the Western Local Escort Force soon thereafter , " St Albans " was based at Halifax and operated in convoy escort missions in the western Atlantic for the remainder of 1943 . Departing Halifax four days after Christmas 1943 , " St Albans " arrived in the Tyne on 10 January 1944 , where she was soon laid up in reserve . As " Dostoyny " . On 16 July 1944 , the British transferred " St Albans " to the Soviet Navy , who renamed her " Dostoyny " ( rus . Достойный , " Worthy " ) . She sailed under the " hammer and sickle " until returned to the British on 28 February 1949 at Rosyth , Scotland . This veteran of service with four different navies — those of the United States , Britain , Norway , and the Soviet Union — was eventually broken up for scrap at Charlestown , England , in April 1949 .