USS Semmes ( DD - 189 ) USS " Semmes " ( DD - 189 / AG - 24 ) was a in the United States Navy during World War II . She was the first Navy ship named for Commander ( USN ) , Rear Admiral ( CSN ) , Brigadier General ( CSA ) Raphael Semmes ( 1809 – 1877 ) . History . " Semmes " was laid down on 10 June 1918 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company , Newport News , Virginia ; launched on 21 December 1918 ; sponsored by Mrs . John H . Watkins , granddaughter of Raphael Semmes ; and commissioned on 21 February 1920 , Commander H . H . Norton in command . A few months later , she was the first to navigate using only the Ambrose Channel pilot cable . Following shakedown , " Semmes " participated in exercises along the northeast coast until January 1921 when she sailed south for winter fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean . From there , she transited the Panama Canal to cruise off the west coast of South America and returned to the Caribbean in late February to conduct further exercises out of Guantanamo Bay . In late April , she resumed operations out of Norfolk , Virginia . The destroyer was ordered inactivated in 1922 ; and , on 12 April , entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was decommissioned on 17 July 1922 . Activated ten years later , she was transferred to the United States Coast Guard to serve in the Rum Patrol . She was commissioned in that service on 25 April 1932 . As a Coast Guard destroyer , she was reconditioned at Boston , Massachusetts and based at New London , Connecticut whence she operated from 25 September until detached for two months duty with the Navy on 7 September 1933 . On 10 November , she returned to New London and resumed operations for the Treasury Department . On 20 April 1934 , the destroyer was returned to the Navy and was recommissioned as an experimental ship in accordance with the London Treaty limiting naval armament . Although not officially redesignated as an auxiliary ship , AG - 24 , until 1 July 1935 , " Semmes " was assigned to Experimental Division 1 : and , with assigned submarine s , tested and evaluated underwater sound equipment into the 1940s . In May , 1939 " Semmes " took part in the recovery efforts for the . After the entry of the United States into World War II , " Semmes " added escort missions , training services for the Key West Sound School , and antisubmarine patrol work to her duties . At Key West from 16 March to 16 April 1942 , she performed escort and patrol work off the mid - Atlantic seaboard into May ; and , on the morning of the 6th , while patrolling off Cape Lookout , collided with a British armed trawler , " Senateur Duhamel " . The latter sank ; and , after assisting the survivors , " Semmes " put into Morehead City , N . C . for temporary repairs . Permanent repairs were completed at Norfolk on 3 June and the former destroyer resumed her test and evaluation , patrol , and escort work which she continued through the end of the war in Europe . After the capitulation of Germany , " Semmes " resumed her primary mission of testing experimental equipment and , for the remainder of her career , conducted tests for the Underwater Sound Laboratory , New London , as a unit of the antisubmarine surface group of the Operational Development Force . Other duties during that period included the provision of training services to the Submarine School and to the Fleet Sonar School . Fate . On 21 May 1946 , " Semmes " again entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for inactivation . Decommissioned on 2 June 1946 , her name was struck from the Navy list on 3 July 1946 ; and her hulk was sold for scrapping to the Northern Metals Corporation , Philadelphia , Pennsylvania on 25 November 1946 . She was scrapped the following year . " Semmes " received five battle star s for service in World War II .