USS Wilkes ( DD - 67 ) USS " Wilkes " ( DD - 67 ) was a in the United States Navy during World War I . She was the second Navy ship named for Commodore Charles Wilkes ( 1798 – 1877 ) . She served with the United States Coast Guard as ( CG - 25 ) . " Wilkes " was laid down on 11 March 1915 at Philadelphia by the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Co . , launched on 18 May 1916 , sponsored by Miss Carrie Mclver Wilkes ; and commissioned on 10 November 1916 , Lieutenant Commander Julius F . Hellweg in command . Service history . World War I . " Wilkes " spent the winter preceding America ' s entry into World War I outfitting — first in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and later in the Torpedo Station located at Newport , R . I . — and conducting fleet maneuvers in Cuban waters . She returned from those operations at the height of the crisis over the German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare , arriving in Norfolk on 7 March 1917 . Just one month later , on 6 April , the United States joined the war against the Central Powers . At the end of April , the destroyer escorted the French cruiser " Amiral Auge " from Norfolk to New York . On 15 June , she departed New York in the screen of the first American troop convoy to voyage to Europe . She escorted her charges into Saint Nazaire on 26 June then headed for Portsmouth , England , where she celebrated Independence Day . From there , she continued on to her permanent European base , Queenstown , Ireland , where she arrived on the 6th . " Wilkes " operated from the Queenstown base for the duration of World War I . For the most part , she conducted antisubmarine patrols and escorted convoys bound for England on the last leg of their voyage . Occasionally , however , she was called upon to shepherd convoys into port at Brest and Saint Nazaire , France . Although her duties appeared routine , they were strenuous . She spent many arduous days at sea in the stormy Atlantic with only hours or , at most , a day or two in port to provision . Though it appears that she never saw combat with German U - boat s , she did witness the results of their depredations once when she rescued 23 survivors of the torpedoed British merchantman SS " Purley " on 25 July 1917 . She continued her patrol and escort duties until after Christmas 1918 , over a month after the cessation of hostilities . On 26 December , she departed Queenstown and headed for home . On 7 January 1919 , she arrived in New York . Immediately upon her return , " Wilkes " began overhaul at New York . That occupied her time until 1 May when the destroyer embarked upon her most noteworthy postwar mission — duty as a picket ship for the first transatlantic flight . Only one of the four Navy - Curtiss ( NC ) flying boats slated for the mission actually completed the flight . NC - 4 reached the Azores at Horta on 17 May , made the hop to Ponta Delgada on the 20th , and departed the Azores for Lisbon , Portugal , on the 27th . " Wilkes " served as a picket on that second leg of the flight as the fourth ship in a line of 14 destroyers between the Azores and the European continent . The NC - 4 reached her destination that same day , and " Wilkes " ' part in the event was completed . While NC - 4 finished the third and last leg of its flight — from Lisbon to Plymouth , England — on 30 and 31 May , " Wilkes " pointed her bow homeward . The destroyer reentered New York harbor on 4 June and resumed peacetime operations along the Atlantic coast . For the next 34 months , she plied the waters off the eastern seaboard in the spring , summer , and fall . Late each fall , she headed south to participate in fleet maneuvers in Cuban waters , the Caribbean , and the Gulf of Mexico . During that time , she was based at three different ports — Newport , R . I . ; New York , N . Y . ; and Charleston , S . C . On 12 April 1922 , Wilkes entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was placed out of commission on 5 June 1922 . United States Coast Guard . " Wilkes " remained inactive at Philadelphia for over four years . In the summer of 1926 , she was turned over to the Coast Guard , desperately in need of additional ships to suppress the illegal , but lucrative , traffic in alcoholic beverages spawned by Prohibition . She was commissioned a Coast Guard destroyer at New London , Connecticut , on 23 August 1926 , Lieutenant Commander M . J . Ryan , USCG , in command . For the next eight years , she patrolled the east coast from New England to Florida . In 1934 , the repeal of Prohibition brought an end to the illicit alcohol trade and the " Rum Patrol " as well . " Wilkes " completed her last Coast Guard patrol at Philadelphia on 15 March 1934 . There , she was placed out of commission on 29 March and returned to the Navy . On 5 July 1934 , her name was struck from the Navy list . She was sold on 22 August 1934 for scrapping under the terms of the London Treaty for the limitation of naval armaments .