USS Shirk ( DD - 318 ) USS " Shirk " ( DD - 318 ) was a " Clemson " - class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I . She was named for James W . Shirk . History . " Shirk " was laid down on 13 February 1919 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation , San Francisco , California ; launched on 20 June 1919 ; sponsored by Miss Ida Lawlor Dunnigan ; and commissioned on 5 February 1921 , Lieutenant Commander G . M . Ravenscroft in command . " Shirk " arrived in her homeport , San Diego , California , on 7 March 1921 and , after three weeks of exercises , was placed in reserve there until October . She conducted exercises off San Diego from late in the year until sailing with the fleet on 27 June 1922 for exercises off Puget Sound . The ship returned to San Diego on 19 September and resumed operations there . " Shirk " departed San Diego on 6 February 1923 with the fleet and participated in combined exercises off Panama from 26 February to 31 March . Returning to San Diego on 11 April , she underwent overhaul at Mare Island from 9 July to 1 September and resumed operations at San Diego on 9 September . She sailed again with the fleet on 2 January 1924 and transited the Panama Canal on 19 January . Between 23 January and 3 February , she called at Veracruz , Mexico ( where the cruiser had been wrecked on 16 January ) , and at Tampico , before rejoining the fleet at Culebra on 10 February . On 1 March , she departed the Canal Zone for Mare Island , where she was overhauled between 19 March and 7 May . Between 26 June and 12 July , she acted as plane guard for aircraft flying from San Diego to Seattle and rejoined the fleet in Puget Sound on 13 July . She returned to San Diego on 1 October . On 27 April 1925 , " Shirk " arrived at Pearl Harbor with the United States Fleet for combined exercises . On 1 July , the Battle Fleet sailed on a goodwill cruise to the Southwest Pacific , and " Shirk " visited Melbourne ; Lyttelton and Wellington ; and American Samoa before returning to San Diego on 26 September . She was overhauled at Mare Island from 11 January to 26 February 1926 and operated out of San Diego until departing on 14 June for summer exercises off Washington . She returned to San Diego on 1 September 1926 and again received repairs at Mare Island from 30 December 1926 to 4 February 1927 . On 7 February 1927 , " Shirk " sailed from San Diego and participated in exercises off Panama and , after transiting the Canal on 5 March , operated in the Caribbean with the fleet . She departed the Caribbean on 22 April and visited New York , and conducted a joint Army and Navy exercise in Narragansett Bay before arriving at Hampton Roads on 29 May 1927 for the Presidential review . She arrived in the Panama Canal Zone on 9 June 1927 for duty off Nicaragua with the Special Service Squadron , protecting lives and property of American and other foreign nationals there supporting peacekeeping operations . She patrolled off Nicaragua from 1 July to 23 July , and returned to San Diego on 23 August . During operations off San Diego , she rescued a disabled man on SS " Georgian " and carried him into port on 29 August . " Shirk " underwent overhaul at Mare Island from 26 February to 11 April 1928 and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 28 April with the fleet , having participated in Fleet Problem VIII en route . She returned to San Diego on 23 June and operated there for the rest of the year . Between 27 January and 6 February 1929 , she participated in fleet exercises off Panama , and then underwent overhaul at Mare Island from 24 February to 20 June . Fate . She then operated at San Diego until she was decommissioned there on 8 February 1930 . " Shirk " was struck from the Navy list on 22 July 1930 , scrapped at Mare Island , and her hulk sold there on 27 January 1931 to P . J . Willett . As of 2012 , no other U . S . Navy ship has been named " Shirk " .