USS Tarbell ( DD - 142 ) USS " Tarbell " ( DD – 142 ) was a in the United States Navy during World War I . She was the first ship named for Captain Joseph Tarbell . " Tarbell " was laid down on 31 December 1917 at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , by William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company , launched on 28 May 1918 , sponsored by Miss Virgie Tarbell , and commissioned on 27 November 1918 , Commander Halsey Powell in command . Service history . " Tarbell " operated along the eastern seaboard until September 1919 , when she was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet . Based at San Francisco , she served with Destroyer Division 15 , of Destroyer Flotilla 5 and Destroyer Squadron 4 , until late January 1920 when she joined Division 13 of the same flotilla and squadron . In February , her home yard was changed to Cavite in the Philippines , and in March , the destroyer joined the Asiatic Fleet . " Tarbell " served on the Asiatic Station until the summer of 1921 , when she returned to the Pacific Fleet with her home yard at Puget Sound . She operated with the Pacific Fleet until she was decommissioned on 8 June 1922 and berthed at San Diego , California . On 29 May 1930 , " Tarbell " was recommissioned and assigned to Destroyer Division 11 , Destroyer Squadron 10 , Destroyer Squadrons , Battle Fleet . Her home port was San Diego until January 1931 , when it was changed to Charleston , South Carolina . However , she remained assigned to the same administrative organization until March , when she was reassigned to Destroyer Division 3 of the Scouting Force . Sometime between July and October 1934 , the destroyer changed home ports back to San Diego , but remained a part of the Scouting Force Destroyers . Late in 1936 , " Tarbell " returned to the east coast to prepare for her second decommissioning , this time at Philadelphia . She remained there until after war broke out in Europe in September 1939 . To keep the war out of the Americas , President Franklin D . Roosevelt issued two Neutrality Acts on the 5th and ordered the Navy to form a Neutrality Patrol . A month later , on 4 October 1939 , " Tarbell " was placed back in commission at Philadelphia , Lieutenant Commander Edward W . Rawlins in command . She operated in the Atlantic with the Neutrality Patrol for over two years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor jolted the United States into the war . World War II . " Tarbell " s duties remained much the same after the United States entered the conflict . The destroyer continued to escort convoys and perform antisubmarine work in the northern Atlantic . She shuttled merchantmen back and forth across the ocean and operated out of the east coast ports on rescue missions to pick up survivors of torpedoed ships . One such rescue mission occurred on 26 March 1942 . A Socony tanker , , was torpedoed off Cape Hatteras , North Carolina , and " Tarbell " s lookouts sighted her distress flares a little before 0900 . The destroyer instantly rang up full speed ; and , one - half hour later , she arrived at the scene of the attack . She dropped a depth - charge barrage to drive off any U - boat s lurking in the vicinity and then picked up 22 survivors . After a futile search for the enemy submarine , she disembarked the survivors at Morehead City , North Carolina . In May 1942 , the destroyer began helping in the surveillance of Vichy French warships in the Caribbean . To assure that those French ships were not turned over to the Germans and that , in accordance with the Panama Declaration , there be no transfer of European possessions in America to any non - American power , she was assigned a patrol area around Pointe - à - Pitre , Grand Terre Island , Guadeloupe , and her specific charge was the old training cruiser " Jeanne D ' Arc " . Her rescue missions continued along with observation missions . On the 16th , she rescued 24 members of the crew of , torpedoed four days out of New York . On the evening of 25 May , when word reached her at San Juan , Puerto Rico of a U - boat attack on , " Tarbell " got underway so rapidly that two of her officers and 13 crewmen were left behind in Puerto Rico . The following day , she picked up eight wounded " Blakeley " crewmen at Martinique , then participated in the search for the U - boat until the afternoon of the 27th . On 2 June , " Tarbell " rescued 19 survivors of . Two days later , the destroyer sighted survivors of the sinking of and brought them aboard , running her tally up to 31 men rescued on that mission . Following additional escort duty in the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico , " Tarbell " began screening transatlantic convoys in mid - May 1943 . Her first voyage was in the escort of convoy UGS - 9 which was augmented by the latest development in antisubmarine warfare ( ASW ) — an escort carrier . The convoy reached Casablanca safely on 15 June . " Tarbell " returned to the United States at New York , underwent repairs , and conducted training before joining another Casablanca - bound convoy in August . Upon her return to New York , the destroyer resumed local escort work until 22 October , when she departed New York in company with , , and to cover the passage of another convoy . The unit steamed via Bermuda , where it was joined by , and arrived at Casablanca on 3 November . Following a short voyage to Gibraltar , " Tarbell " headed back across the Atlantic on 10 November . The return convoy entered New York harbor on the 21st . The following month brought an availability , refresher training , and time spent in training prospective crews for destroyer - type warships . On 26 December , she departed Norfolk in company with and Destroyer Division 61 to cover convoy UGS - 28 to North Africa , from there operating as a hunter / killer group in the vicinity of the Azores . On 31 December , " Lea " was severely damaged in a collision , and " Tarbell " took her in tow for Bermuda . On 3 January 1944 , the destroyer was relieved of her towing duties by and and caught up with the convoy at Horta in the Azores on the 7th . After hunting submarines along the convoy routes , " Tarbell " s group reached Norfolk , on 7 February , and the destroyer set out for a 10 - day availability at Boston . Following that , she was assigned to the Air Force , Atlantic Fleet ( AirLant ) for air crew training operations off Provincetown , Massachusetts . Relieved of that duty in April , she operated for a time in the screen of and . From then until July 1945 , she alternated between carrier escort duty and target ship duty with AirLant . On 20 July 1945 , " Tarbell " was placed out of commission at Philadelphia . Her name was struck from the Navy List on 13 August 1945 , and she was sold for scrapping on 30 November 1945 to the Boston Metal Salvage Company , Baltimore , Maryland . As of 2012 , no other ship in the United States Navy has borne this name .