USS Cushing ( DD - 55 ) USS " Cushing " ( Destroyer No . 55 / DD - 55 ) was an built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I . The ship was the second U . S . Navy vessel named in honor of William B . Cushing , a U . S . Navy officer best known for sinking the Confederate ironclad warship during the American Civil War . " Cushing " was laid down by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy , Massachusetts , in September 1913 and launched in January 1915 . The ship was a little more than in length , just over abeam , and had a standard displacement of . She was armed with four guns and had eight torpedo tube s . " Cushing " was powered by a pair of steam turbines that propelled her at up to . After her August 1915 commissioning , " Cushing " sailed off the east coast and in the Caribbean . She was one of seventeen destroyers sent out to rescue survivors from five victims of German submarine off the Lightship Nantucket in October 1916 . After the United States entered World War I in April 1917 , " Cushing " was sent overseas to patrol the Irish Sea out of Queenstown , Ireland . " Cushing " made several unsuccessful attacks on U - boats , and rescued survivors of several ships sunk by the German craft . Upon returning to the United States after the war , " Cushing " was placed in reserve in reduced commission . She was decommission ed at Philadelphia in August 1920 . She was struck for the Naval Vessel Register in January 1936 and sold for scrapping in June . Design and construction . " Cushing " was authorized in March 1913 as the fifth of six ships of the , which was an improved version of the s authorized in 1911 . Construction of the vessel was awarded to the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy , Massachusetts , which laid down her keel on 23 September 1913 . On 16 January 1915 , " Cushing " was launched by sponsor Miss M . L . Cushing , daughter of the ship ' s namesake , William B . Cushing . The ship was the second ship named for Cushing , a U . S . Navy officer best known for sinking the Confederate ironclad warship during the American Civil War . As built , the destroyer was in length , abeam , and drew . The ship had a standard displacement of and displaced when fully loaded . " Cushing " had two Zoelly steam turbines that drove her two screw propellers , and an additional pair triple - expansion steam engines , each connected to one of the propeller shafts , for cruising purposes . Four oil - burning White - Forster boiler s powered the engines , which could generate , moving the ship at up to . " Cushing " s main battery consisted of four / 50 Mark 9 guns , with each gun weighing in excess of . The guns fired armor - piercing projectile s at . At an elevation of 20° , the guns had a range of . " Cushing " was also equipped with eight torpedo tube s . The General Board of the United States Navy had called for two anti - aircraft gun s for the " O ' Brien " - class ships , as well as provisions for laying up to 36 floating mine s . From sources , it is unclear if these recommendations were followed for " Cushing " or any of the other ships of the class . Early career . USS " Cushing " was commissioned into the United States Navy on 21 August 1915 under the command of Lieutenant Commander T . A . Kittinger . " Cushing " served on the Neutrality patrol off Rose Bank , New York , until 28 December 1915 . She sailed to the Caribbean for fleet maneuvers on 4 January 1916 and after joining in fleet tactical exercises off Portland , Maine , and gunnery exercises off Norfolk , Virginia , she reported to Newport , Rhode Island , on 27 September to test torpedoes at the Naval Torpedo Station . At 05 : 30 on Sunday , 8 October 1916 , wireless reports came in of a German submarine stopping ships near the Lightship Nantucket , off the eastern end of Long Island . After an SOS from the British steamer " West Point " was received at about 12 : 30 , Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves ordered " Cushing " and other destroyers at Newport to attend to survivors . The American destroyers arrived on the scene about 17 : 00 when the U - boat , under the command of " Kapitänleutnant " Hans Rose , was in the process of stopping the Holland - America Line cargo ship . Shortly after , " U - 53 " stopped the British passenger ship . After Rose had given passengers and crew aboard both ships adequate time to abandon them , he sank the pair . In total , 226 survivors from " U - 53 " s five victims were rescued by the destroyer flotilla . After finishing out the rest of 1916 at Newport , " Cushing " again joined in exercises in the Caribbean for the first three months of 1917 . World War I . After the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917 entering World War I , " Cushing " was put to sea from New York on 15 May 1917 with , , , and . The destroyers arrived at Queenstown , Ireland , 24 May for duty in the war zone . " Cushing " patrolled off the Irish coast , meeting and escorting convoys of merchant ships and troop transports to British ports and the French coast . German submarines were active in the area and " Cushing " conducted antisubmarine patrols and performed rescue work on the ships that were victims of U - boats . On 4 June , she picked up 13 men adrift in a small boat , survivors of Italian brig " Luisa " . The destroyer had a busy July . On the 7th , she assisted in rescuing survivors of the torpedoed and sinking British merchant ship SS " Tarquah " . The next day she responded to an SOS from SS " Onitsha " , which was being chased by an enemy submarine , and picked up 54 survivors of SS " Obuasi " which had already been sunk . On 16 July she escorted SS " Tamele " to safety after the merchantman had received five hits , and the same day fired on two submarines — and — at extremely long range following their attack on the Italian merchant vessel SS " Lamia L . " , from whom " Cushing " rescued 27 survivors . On 12 September , five survivors from the British SS " Vienna " were saved after being adrift for 2 days . On 26 November , when RFA " Crenella " was torpedoed , " Cushing " stood by , giving damage control assistance which kept the merchantman from sinking , then escorted her into Queenstown . " Cushing " rejoined her convoy the next day . Continuing her convoy escort and patrol duty , " Cushing " on 23 April 1918 dropped fifteen depth charge s on German submarine , damaging her severely ; sank " U - 104 " later that same day . After 11 June 1918 , " Cushing " operated from Brest , France , escorting eleven troop convoys through the submarine zones into French ports , making two depth charge attacks without success in the process . Postwar . Immediately after the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918 , " Cushing " remained in French waters . She towed , which had grounded on rocks in a French harbor , into Brest on 3 December . However , " Cushing " departed for the United States on 21 December , arriving in New York on 6 January 1919 . She was placed in reduced commission on 1 July , and transferred to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 6 April 1920 . In July , she was assigned the hull code of " DD - 55 " under the U . S . Navy ' s alphanumeric classification system . " Cushing " was decommission ed on 7 August . On 1 July 1933 , she dropped the name " Cushing " to free it for a new destroyer of the same name , becoming known only as " DD - 55 " . The ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 January 1936 , and , on 30 June , was sold for scrapping in accordance with the London Naval Treaty for the limitation of naval armaments .