USS Truxtun ( DD - 229 ) " Truxtun " was laid down on 3 December 1919 and launched on 28 September 1920 from William Cramp & Sons , sponsored by Miss Isabelle Truxtun Brumby , and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 16 February 1921 , Lieutenant Commander Melville S . Brown in command . Service history . Upon commissioning , " Truxtun " completed shakedown and began duty along the east coast with the Atlantic Fleet as a unit of Division 39 , Destroyer Squadron 3 . She operated with that unit along the Atlantic seaboard until the fall when she was reassigned to Division 43 , Squadron 15 . During the winter of 1921 and 1922 , the destroyer joined the fleet in maneuvers and exercises near Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . Asiatic Fleet . In March 1922 , Division 43 returned north to Newport , Rhode Island , to prepare for service in the Asiatic Fleet . On 22 June 1922 , " Truxtun " departed Newport and proceeded , via the Mediterranean , the Suez Canal , and the Indian Ocean , to the Far East which she reached in mid - August . By early September , she and several sister destroyers of Division 43 joined the main elements of the Asiatic Fleet off Chefoo on the northern coast of China . Late in October , the fleet headed south to its winter base at Manila in the Philippines , from whence it conducted exercises until the following spring . Truxtun " served with the Asiatic Fleet for the next 10 years . During that decade , she alternated summer cruises in Chinese waters with winter maneuvers in the Philippines . This routine was punctuated by special unusual assignments . For instance , in June 1924 , she and the other five destroyers of Division 43 helped to form a chain of picket ships across the Yellow Sea for the Army ' s global flight . More often , however , internecine warfare in China brought " Truxtun " to the coast of that troubled nation to protect American lives and property . She spent a total of eight out of the 13 months between September 1926 and October 1927 patrolling the Yangtze River while competing factions in China fought one another - and occasionally otherwise neutral third parties . The destroyer returned to the Yangtze River Patrol twice more - from 1 March to 14 April 1930 and from January through March 1932 - when internal political convulsions in China threatened foreign lives and property . On 18 April 1932 , " Truxtun " departed Manila and the Asiatic Fleet to join the destroyers attached to the Battle Force . After stops at Guam , Midway , and Hawaii , she reached Mare Island Navy Yard on 13 May . For the next seven years , she patrolled the Pacific , as far north as Alaska and as far south as the Panama Canal , participating in maneuvers with capital ships of the Battle Force . Only once , in 1934 , did she leave the Pacific . On 9 April , she cleared San Diego and transited the Panama Canal . After calling at Port - au - Prince , Haiti , " Truxtun " steamed north to New York City , arriving on 31 May . Following that visit , she patrolled the eastern seaboard . On 15 September , the destroyer stood out of Hampton Roads , retransited the canal , and returned to San Diego on 9 November to resume operations with the Battle Force . World War II . Transfer to Atlantic Squadron . On 27 April 1939 , " Truxtun " steamed out of San Diego and headed for the canal once more . She reached Norfolk , Virginia on 15 May and joined Destroyer Division 27 , Atlantic Squadron . The destroyer patrolled the east coast of the United States while war clouds gathered in Europe . Soon after the outbreak of war in September , " Truxtun " began enforcing the provisions of President Franklin D . Roosevelt ' s proclamation of American neutrality by Neutrality patrol s and escort duty off the Atlantic coast , in the Gulf of Mexico , and in the Caribbean . In late May and early June 1940 , the warship made a voyage to Casablanca in French North Africa and then resumed neutrality patrols off Florida and in the Caribbean . Following repairs at Norfolk in December 1940 and January 1941 , " Truxtun " cleared Hampton Roads on 6 February . The next day , she reached Newport , Rhode Island , where she joined Destroyer Division 63 , Squadron 31 . Between late February and mid - March , she made two voyages to Halifax , Nova Scotia , returning to the United States at the Washington Navy Yard on both occasions . On 15 March , the destroyer returned to Newport and resumed patrols and exercises . For the remainder of her career , " Truxtun " patrolled the North Atlantic sea lanes and escorted convoys from New England and Canadian ports – via NS Argentia , Newfoundland – to Reykjavík , Iceland . Fate . On Christmas Day 1941 , " Truxtun " departed Boston , Massachusetts in the screen of Convoy HX - 168 . She arrived at Reykjavík on 13 January 1942 and , six days later , headed back to Argentia with Convoy ON - 57 . At 0410 on 18 February while acting as escort to in Placentia Bay , Newfoundland , " Truxtun " ran aground " in a howling gale " between the outport communities of Lawn and St . Lawrence , near Chambers Cove . She broke up almost immediately after grounding and , in spite of the heroic efforts of the local populace , lost 110 members of her crew to the elements . was also wrecked with 93 fatalities , and also grounded , but made way with no fatalities . " Truxtun " s name was struck from the Navy list on 25 March 1942 .