USS O ' Brien ( DD - 51 ) USS " O ' Brien " ( Destroyer No . 51 / DD - 51 ) was the lead ship of her class of destroyer s built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I . The ship was the second US Navy vessel named in honor of Jeremiah O ' Brien and his five brothers Gideon , John , William , Dennis , and Joseph who , together on the sloop " Unity " , captured a British warship during the American Revolutionary War . " O ' Brien " was laid down by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia in September 1913 and launched in July 1914 . After her May 1915 commissioning , " O ' Brien " 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 , " O ' Brien " was sent overseas to patrol the Irish Sea out of Queenstown , Ireland . After returning to the United States in January 1919 , " O ' Brien " revisited European waters in May to serve as one of the picket ships for the NC - type seaplane s in the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic . " O ' Brien " was decommission ed at Philadelphia in June 1922 . She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in March 1935 and sold for scrapping in April . Design and construction . " O ' Brien " was authorized in March 1913 as the lead ship of the , which was an improved version of the s authorized in 1911 . Construction of the vessel was awarded to William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia which laid down her keel on 8 September 1913 . On 20 July 1914 , " O ' Brien " was launched by sponsor Miss Marcia Bradbury Campbell , great - great - granddaughter of Gideon O ' Brien , one of the ship ' s namesakes . Gideon and his four brothers — John , William , Dennis , and Joseph — were crewmen aboard sloop " Unity " , under the command of their brother Jeremiah O ' Brien , when that vessel captured on 12 June 1775 during the American Revolutionary War ; the destroyer " O ' Brien " was named after all six brothers , and was the second US Navy vessel named in their honor . As built , the destroyer was in length , abeam , and drew . The ship had a standard displacement of and displaced when fully loaded . " O ' Brien " 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 . " O ' Brien " s main battery consisted of four / 50 cal 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 . " O ' Brien " 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 " O ' Brien " or any of the other ships of the class . Pre - World War I . " O ' Brien " was commissioned into the United States Navy on 22 May 1915 under the command of Lieutenant Commander C . E . Courtney , after which she conducted her shakedown cruise between Newport , Rhode Island , and Hampton Roads , Virginia . In fleet exercises off New York in November , " O ' Brien " collided with the destroyer , in a minor incident that carried away part of " Drayton " s topmast and wireless gear . In December , she was assigned to the 5th Division , Torpedo Flotilla , Atlantic Fleet . From early 1916 - spring of 1917 , she operated with the Fleet along the East Coast and in Cuban waters . At 05 : 30 on 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 was received at about 12 : 30 , Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves ordered " O ' Brien " and other destroyers at Newport to attend to survivors . The American destroyers arrived on the scene at 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 . As Rose had done with three other ships " U - 53 " had sunk earlier in the day , he gave passengers and crew aboard " Blommersdijk " and " Stephano " adequate time to abandon the ships before sinking the pair . In total , 226 survivors from " U - 53 " s five victims were rescued by the destroyer flotilla . In February 1917 , one of " O ' Brien " s gun crews hit a target at eight times in eight attempts with one of the destroyer ' s guns , a feat which earned the crew and " O ' Brien " recognition in " The Independent " , a weekly newsmagazine published in Boston . World War I . Returning from winter maneuvers off Cuba in March 1917 , the ship was in the York River when the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April , entering World War I . After fitting out at Brooklyn Navy Yard , she got underway from New York on 15 May with , , , and , and joined convoy at Halifax , Nova Scotia , " en route " to Ireland . Upon arrival at Queenstown on 24 May , " O ' Brien " was assigned to the 6th Destroyer Division which cooperated with the British forces . She patrolled off the Irish coast in company with other destroyers answering distress calls and meeting eastbound convoys to escort them through the war zone . While escorting SS " Elysia " off Queenstown on 16 June , lookouts on " O ' Brien " sighted a periscope . Heading toward the submarine for an attack , a lookout in the foretop saw the submerged boat pass close along the starboard side . A depth charge was dropped but no immediate evidence of damage was found . Nearly three hours later , the British vessel reported a large patch of oil in approximately the same position . The next morning , " Cushing " also reported and confirmed " Jessamine " s report . The British Admiralty believed the submarine was probably seriously damaged . However , later investigation reveals that German submarine , the submarine in question , continued to operate and completed her cruise . In the summer of 1918 , " O ' Brien " was transferred to the French coast where she continued her antisubmarine patrols through the end of the war . Inter - war period . After the signing of the Armistice on 11 November , which ended all fighting , " O ' Brien " transported mail and passengers between Brest , France , and Plymouth , England . She returned to New York on 8 January 1919 , but returned to European waters in May when she served as one of the rescue pickets stationed along the route across the Atlantic flown by three Navy NC - type seaplane s in the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic . In 1919 , she assisted in the unsuccessful first attempt to lay the Ambrose Channel pilot cable . In July 1920 , she was assigned the hull code of " DD - 51 " under the US Navy ' s alphanumeric classification system . " O ' Brien " was decommission ed at Philadelphia on 5 June 1922 . The ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 March 1935 , and broken up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard , and her materials sold for scrap on 23 April .