USS Woodbury ( DD - 309 ) The third USS " Woodbury " ( DD - 309 ) was a " Clemson " - class destroyer in the United States Navy . She was named for Levi Woodbury . History . " Woodbury " was laid down on 3 October 1918 at San Francisco , California , by the Union Iron Works plant of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation ; launched on 6 February 1919 ; sponsored by Miss Catherine Muhlenberg Chapin , the daughter of newspaper publisher W . W . Chapin ; reclassified DD - 309 on 17 July 1920 ; and commissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard , Vallejo , California , on 20 October 1920 , Lieutenant Commander Frank L . Lowe in command . " Woodbury " departed San Francisco on 22 November and reached San Diego , her assigned home port , the following day . " Woodbury " moored at the Reserve Docks , where she remained into 1921 . The destroyer , like many of her numerous sisters begun during World War I , had entered service at a time when the post - war cutbacks in funds and personnel had seriously curtailed American peacetime naval operations . Accordingly , she was placed in a " rotating reserve " established by the Navy to maintain a " force in readiness . " In operation , the system required that one - third of a given force remain pierside , maintained by only the minimum number of officers and men , while another third was to be half - manned as it remained berthed at a buoy in the harbor . The last third was fully manned and remained at buoys in the harbor but for periodic operations underway at sea . " Woodbury " departed her mooring at the Reserve Docks on 1 February 1921 and , over the next few days , conducted torpedo practices and made a speed run off the southern California coast . During that brief underway period , the destroyer conducted her operations during the day and returned to her mooring buoy in the evenings . She remained largely port - bound from March to May , but moved to San Pedro , California , on 14 June . There , her crew assisted in preservation and maintenance work on while she lay in drydock at the Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company , San Pedro . " Woodbury " then underwent a drydocking herself for the application of anti - corrosive and antifouling paint to her bottom . " Woodbury " later returned to San Diego and , but for a run , via Los Angeles harbor , to Seattle , Washington , stayed there for the remainder of 1921 . Underway on the morning of 14 January 1922 , " Woodbury " led , , and to sea . She arrived off Goat Island , near San Francisco , at 0820 the following day and lay to , embarking passengers for transportation to the Puget Sound Navy Yard , Bremerton , Washington , before she resumed her cruise up the Pacific coast . The destroyer reached Puget Sound on the afternoon of the 18th , discharged her passengers , and soon commenced her scheduled overhaul . " Woodbury " remained at Puget Sound through March 1922 . She got underway for San Diego on 3 April but put into Port Angeles , Washington , when " Nicholas " developed a machinery casualty . Upon completion of " Nicholas " ' repairs , " Woodbury " resumed her passage southward and reached San Diego on 8 April . The destroyer lay at berth 35 , San Diego harbor , into the summer , again as part of the inactive arm of the " rotating reserve . " From early July to late September , " Woodbury " provided essential maintenance and upkeep services to her sister ships in the decommissioned Destroyer Division 17 moored alongside . There were only two breaks in the ship ' s routine during that time : a tender upkeep period alongside and her participation in the funeral of the late Rear Admiral Uriel Sebree , USN ( Ret . ) , on 8 August , for which she sent a party ashore to form part of the naval escort for the casket . " Woodbury " got underway on 26 September 1922 and conducted gunnery exercises in company with " Young " and " Nicholas " . After another period of upkeep alongside " Melville " , the destroyer participated in an intensive slate of gunnery and torpedo drills . Then , late in October , she also performed torpedo recovery chores for the battleship s and . After spending the remainder of 1922 in San Diego waters , " Woodbury " stood out of San Diego harbor on 6 February 1923 , in company with Destroyer Squadrons 11 and 12 and the tender " Melville " , all ships bound for Mexico , and , ultimately , for Panama . Arriving at Magdalena Bay on the 8th , " Woodbury " refueled from before she pushed on for Panamanian waters on the 11th . That afternoon , she rendezvoused with the dreadnoughts of Battleship Divisions 3 , 4 , and 5 and conducted exercises with them en route to Panama . Over the ensuing weeks , " Woodbury " took part in the first of the Navy ' s large scale fleet maneuvers , Fleet Problem I . Held in the vicinity of the strategic Panama Canal Zone , Fleet Problem I was designed to ascertain the defensive condition of that waterway , to allow for the formulation of the " estimate of the situation , " and to facilitate the study of war plans . " Woodbury " took part in the exercises as part of the " attacking " forces built around the Battle Fleet . The opposing forces consisted of the Scouting Fleet , augmented by a division of battleships . During one phase of the operation , while the ships lay anchored at Panama Bay , — bearing the Secretary of the Navy , Edwin C . Denby , and the Chief of Naval Operations , Admiral Robert E . Coontz - stood through the fleet . Later , " Woodbury " resumed her operations with the Battle Fleet — conducting gunnery drills , antisubmarine screening , protective screening for the battleships — and serving as a target for Battleship Division 4 during its long - range battle practices . Returning to San Diego on 11 April , " Woodbury " remained there into the summer . Departing her home port on 25 June , however , she sailed for the Pacific Northwest and reached Tacoma , Washington , via San Francisco , on 2 July . There , her landing force participated in the Independence Day parade at Tacoma . " Woodbury " departed Tacoma on 9 July and reached Port Angeles the same day . For nearly two weeks , the destroyer operated out of that port , conducting exercises , tactical maneuvers , and short range battle practices . After that stint of operations , she shifted to Bellingham , Wash . , and , later , to Seattle . Underway at 0405 on 27 July , " Woodbury " departed the fleet ' s anchorage off Admiralty Head , near Seattle , in company with Destroyer Divisions 32 and 33 to escort " Henderson " in which the President of the United States , Warren G . Harding , was embarked . " Woodbury " consequently formed part of the presidential escort as the transport sailed through the fleet . Once her duties in connection with the Presidential review were completed , " Woodbury " returned to the routine of exercises , acting as a target for the gunnery drills carried out by Battleship Division 4 . She later conducted tactical exercises while screening the battleships of that division , before she put in at Lake Washington , via the Lake Washington Ship Canal , on 4 August . She remained there for a little over a week before she got underway on the 13th for Port Townsend . After torpedo - firing and gunnery evolutions out of Port Townsend in company with " William Jones " , " Woodbury " got underway for Keyport , Washington , en route back to Seattle and Puget Sound . Reaching the navy yard on the 20th , she embarked the Commander in Chief , United States Fleet ( CinCUS ) , Admiral Robert E . Coontz , his staff , and a party of congressmen at 0840 on the 22nd . With the CinCUS ' four - starred flag at her main , " Woodbury " cast off from Pier 5 , Puget Sound Navy Yard , and sailed for Keyport . There , Admiral Coontz disembarked with his staff and the congressmen and inspected the naval torpedo station . The admiral and his party then reembarked in the destroyer , and she returned them to the navy yard , where they left the ship at 1110 . At noon , however , the CinCUS returned on board . " Woodbury " subsequently arrived at Seattle ' s Bell Street Dock at 1310 and disembarked the admiral . The next day , the destroyer carried Admiral Coontz to his flagship , the armored cruiser . Over the ensuing days , " Woodbury " also carried , as passengers , Rear Admiral William C . Cole , chief of staff for the CinCUS , and Rear Admiral Luther E . Gregory , CEC , the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks . After completing her tour in the waters off the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States , " Woodbury " departed Port Angeles and headed south . She conducted tactical maneuvers and exercises with battleships en route and stood into San Francisco Bay on 31 August . " Woodbury " remained at San Francisco for a week . She got underway on the morning of 8 September 1923 with other destroyers of Squadron 11 , bound for San Diego , and while skirting the coast over the ensuing hours , conducted tactical exercises and maneuvers . In addition , the ships were making a speed run . Led by the leader , , the squadron steamed into the worsening weather . Later that evening , " Delphy " - basing her movements on an inaccurate navigational bearing - made a fateful turn , believing she was heading into the Santa Barbara Channel . In fact , she was headed , as were all of the ships astern of her in follow - the - leader fashion , for jagged rock pinnacles and reefs off Point Arguello . Shortly after 2105 , tragedy struck Squadron 11 ' s ships , one by one in the Honda Point Disaster . Seven ships , led by " Delphy " and including " Woodbury " , ran hard aground . Some of the destroyers farther astern saw what was happening and managed to avoid disaster by quick - thinking seamanship . " Woodbury " came to rest alongside a small island — later nicknamed " " Woodbury " Rock " — that she used as a permanent anchor . Volunteers took across four lines and rigged them across the gap of tumbling surf between the destroyer and the rock that would later bear her name . Meanwhile , although water was pouring into the forward boiler room and engine room spaces , Commander Louis P . Davis , the ship ' s commanding officer , ordered full speed astern . Ensign Horatio Ridout , the engineer officer , and his men worked to try to produce the horsepower necessary to get the ship out of her predicament but their efforts were brought to nought when all power failed , due to the flooding , at 2230 . As the floodwaters below engulfed and drowned out her power supply and it became impossible to move the ship , Cmdr . Davis turned to his reserve plan . While " Woodbury " settled astern , waves struck her with some force , causing her bow to rise and fall rhythmically . The hawsers tenuously connecting the ship with " " Woodbury " Rock " stretched taut and then sagged with the movement of ship and sea . Nevertheless , one by one , " Woodbury ' s " crew clambered across the chasm , monkey - fashion , in a well - organized operation to abandon ship . Later , men from the stranded sister ship also reached " " Woodbury " Rock . " Ultimately , all of " Woodbury ' s " crew reached safety , some taken off to by the fishing boat " Bueno Amor de Roma " , under the command of a Captain Noceti . The rough log entry for " Woodbury " , dated 9 September 1923 , sums up the ship ' s status as of that date : " " Woodbury " on rocks off Point Arguello , California , abandoned by all hands and under supervision of a salvage party composed of men from various 11th squadron ships . " Fate . Officially placed out of commission on 26 October 1923 , the ship was struck from the Navy list on 20 November of the same year . She was simultaneously ordered sold as a hulk , but a subsequent sale , on 6 February 1924 to a Santa Monica , California - based salvage firm , the Fryn Salvage Company , was never consummated . Yet another sale , to a Robert J . Smith of Oakland , California , is recorded as having been awarded on 19 October 1925 , but whether or not the hulk was scrapped is not recorded . However she , and her wrecked sister ships , were still not moved by late August 1929 for she , and most of the others , may be clearly seen in film footage taken from the German airship " Graf Zeppelin " as she headed towards Los Angeles on her circumnavigation of the globe ; the film footage is used in the documentary film Farewell ( 2009 ) .