USS Sterett ( DD - 27 ) USS " Sterett " ( DD - 27 ) was a modified in the United States Navy during World War I . She was the first ship named for Andrew Sterett . " Sterett " was laid down on 22 March 1909 at Quincy , Massachusetts , by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company . Sponsored by Miss Dorothy Rosalie Sterett Gittings , the destroyer was launched on 12 May 1910 and commissioned on 15 December 1910 at Boston , Massachusetts , Lieutenant Robert L . Berry in command . Pre - World War I . Each year until 1913 , " Sterett " operated along the east coast out of Boston from April to December and , from January to April , participated in training and battle exercises out of Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . Though placed in reserve on 5 November 1913 , she continued duty with the torpedo fleet . On 20 January 1914 , she sailed from Charleston , South Carolina , and reached New Orleans , Louisiana on 2 March , after stops at Cape Canaveral , Miami , Key West , Florida , and at Mobile , Alabama . The following day , she joined the newly created Reserve Torpedo Flotilla , operating in the Gulf of Mexico out of Galveston , Texas . In June , she returned to the Atlantic seaboard , this time based at Norfolk , Virginia , and resumed coastal patrols and Caribbean exercises . " Sterett " s complement was reduced on 5 January 1916 and , throughout that spring ; she operated almost exclusively in the Caribbean . On 1 June , she was a part of the fleet which landed and supported the Marines at Monte Cristi , Dominican Republic , and marched to Santiago to restore order and to protect lives and property . Soon thereafter , " Sterett " returned to Norfolk and resumed operations along the east coast . On 1 January 1917 , she entered the Mississippi , stopped at New Orleans , and steamed up river to Vicksburg , Mississippi . She reentered the gulf and patrolled the Texas coast until she was shifted to Key West on 18 March . From there , the destroyer ranged as far as the Cuban coast . World War I . In April 1917 , the United States entered World War I , and by 9 June , " Sterett " was in Queenstown , Ireland . Throughout the remainder of the war , she operated from Queenstown to meet convoys and conduct them to either Berehaven , Ireland , or to Devonport , England . At these points , British and French destroyers assumed responsibility for the last leg of the voyage . A little less than a year after her arrival at Queenstown , on 31 May 1918 , " Sterett " was herding a convoy toward the rendezvous point when she came upon a surfaced U - boat . As " Sterett " closed , the submarine rapidly submerged . " Sterett " began dropping depth charges furiously , and air bubbles and oil soon appeared on the surface , indicating damage to the German raider . After exhausting her supply of depth charges , " Sterett " pursued the enemy by the U - boat ' s wake of bubbles and trail of oil , hoping to force her to exhaust her batteries and air supply . She continued the pursuit through the night , guided in the darkness only by the fumes of the sub ' s leaking oil . Finally , at dawn , the destroyer ' s persistence was rewarded . She sighted the U - boat on the surface about ahead . " Sterett " sliced through the waves at top speed seeking to ram the submarine , but the U - boat countered by swinging hard to port . " Sterett " passed within of the submarine and , as the U - boat attempted to dive , brought her guns to bear . However , without sufficient time to bracket their adversary , " Sterett " s gunners watched helplessly as the submarine slid beneath the surface and escaped . For their dogged determination , the officers and men of " Sterett " received the commendation of the Commander - in - Chief , Coast of Ireland . The year 1918 brought with it an all - out effort on the part of the Central Powers to bring the war to a successful conclusion . The German Navy increased the intensity of its submarine operations in order to free Germany from the Allies ' ever - tightening blockade . In response to this thrust , " Sterett " maintained a grueling schedule of convoy duty - a week or more at sea followed by a day or two in port . One of her new techniques , the use of airborne surveillance , presaged modern hunter - killer antisubmarine warfare . Inter - war period . The Allies prevailed , however , and the Armistice , signed on 11 November , brought an end to " Sterett " s strenuous duty ; and , by 3 January 1919 , she was back in the United States at Charleston . From there , she moved to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania where she was decommissioned on 9 December . On 9 March 1935 , after a little more than 15 years of inactivity , " Sterett " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register . On 28 June , she was sold for scrapping to M . Black and Company of Norfolk , Virginia .