USS Allen ( DD - 66 ) USS " Allen " ( DD - 66 ) was a " Sampson " - class destroyer of the United States Navy . She was the second Navy ship named for Lieutenant William Henry Allen ( 1784 – 1813 ) , a naval officer during the War of 1812 . She was the longest serving destroyer on the Naval Vessel Register when she was sold in 1946 . " Allen " was laid down on 10 May 1915 at Bath Maine , by the Bath Iron Works , launched on 5 December 1916 , sponsored by Miss Dorthea Dix Allen and Miss Harriet Allen Butler , and commissioned on 24 January 1917 , Lieutenant Commander Samuel W . Bryant in command . Final delivery from Bath Iron Works recorded as 22 October 1917 , per the official records of the Bath Iron Works Company . ( record Number 68 ) Service history . World War I . Over the next five months , " Allen " conducted patrol and escort duty along the eastern seaboard and in the West Indies . During that time , the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allies on 6 April . On 14 June , the destroyer put to sea from New York in the escort of one of the first convoys to take American troops to Europe . After seeing the convoy safely across the Atlantic , " Allen " joined other American destroyers at Queenstown , Ireland , and began duty patrolling against U - boat s and escorting convoys on the last leg of their voyage to Europe . That duty included escort missions into both French and British ports . During her service at Queenstown , she reported engagements with German submarine s on 10 separate occasions , but postwar checks of German records failed to substantiate even the most plausible of the supposed encounters . One of the last duties the destroyer performed in European waters came in December 1918 when she helped to escort , with President Woodrow Wilson embarked , into Brest , France , on the 13th . Following that mission , the destroyer returned to Queenstown , whence she departed on the day after Christmas , bound for home . " Allen " pulled into New York on 7 January 1919 . Inter - War Period . After voyage repairs , the destroyer resumed duty along the east coast and in the West Indies with the United States Atlantic Fleet . That duty continued until 22 June 1922 at which time she was placed out of commission , in reserve . She was placed back in commission three years later , on 23 June 1925 . " Allen " spent almost three years as a training platform for naval reservists at Washington , D . C . In March 1928 , the destroyer returned to the Reserve Fleet and was berthed at Philadelphia . There , she remained for more than 12 years . On 23 August 1940 , " Allen " was recommissioned at Philadelphia , Lieutenant Commander Frederick P . Williams in command . World War II . Following a brief period of service on the United States East Coast , " Allen " was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet as a unit of Destroyer Division ( DesDiv ) 80 . By the time " Allen " returned to commission , the Pacific Fleet had been moved from its base on the United States West Coast to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a gesture to " restrain " the Japan ese . Therefore , " Allen " moved to the Hawaiian base whence she operated until the beginning of hostilities between the United States and Japan . On the morning of 7 December 1941 , " Allen " was moored in East Loch to the northeast of Ford Island and just southeast of the hospital ship USS ( AH - 5 ) . During the Japanese attack on the harbor that morning , she claimed to have assisted in downing three enemy planes ; however , in her actual after - action report online at the U . S . Navys Naval Historical Center Web site , her commanding officer states " that no damage to attacking forces was seen to have been inflicted by this ship . " Following the attack , " Allen " began duty escorting ships between islands of the Hawaiian chain and patrolling the area for enemy ships , primarily submarines . A primary training function of " Allen " during this period was to work - up new submarine crews in penetrating ASW defensive positions , with " Allen " acting as the defender . This task is recorded in several histories of US Submarine operations in the Pacific as their first actual action against a ship . She also made periodic round - trip voyages to the United States West Coast . Such duty remained her occupation throughout World War II . In September 1945 , " Allen " steamed from Hawaii to Philadelphia , where she was placed out of commission on 15 October 1945 . Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1945 , and she was sold to the Boston Metals Company , Baltimore , Maryland , on 26 September 1946 for scrapping . Being in service prior to the US entry into World War I , and serving through World War II , " Allen " was the longest - serving destroyer on the Naval Register when she was sold . Awards . " Allen " earned one battle star for World War II service .