USS Somers ( DD - 301 ) USS " Somers " ( DD - 301 ) , a " Clemson " - class destroyer , engaged in peacetime operations with the Pacific Fleet from 1920 until she was scrapped under the London Naval Treaty in 1930 . She was the fourth ship of the United States Navy named for Richard Somers . History . " Somers " was laid down on 4 July 1918 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation , San Francisco , California ; launched on 28 December 1918 ; sponsored by Miss Anna Maxwell Jayne ; and commissioned on 23 June 1920 , Commander H . G . Gearing , Jr . , in command . " Somers " arrived at San Diego , California on 20 July 1920 , and five days later sailed for the Puget Sound area and summer exercises with the Battle Fleet . She returned to San Diego on 4 August for war maneuvers off Coronado , California and on 3 October was attached to the Reserve Divisions at San Diego . Resuming active status in March 1922 , " Somers " underwent overhaul at Puget Sound and returned to San Diego on 8 July for tactical , torpedo , and gunnery exercises . Departing San Diego on 6 February 1923 , she operated off Panama with the fleet between 26 February and 11 April , conducting exercises and participating in Fleet Problem I . She then proceeded to Puget Sound for her annual overhaul between 22 April and 28 June . " Somers " remained in the north for summer exercises with the Battle Fleet and , on 25 July and 26 July , carried staff officers of President Warren G . Harding from Seattle , Washington to Vancouver , British Columbia , during the President ' s Alaskan trip . On 27 August , she departed Puget Sound with her squadron for San Francisco and San Diego ; but in a fog on 8 September , mistakes in navigation caused " Somers " and eight other ships of the squadron to run aground at Point Honda , in what is known as the Honda Point Disaster . " Somers " escaped disaster by conducting an emergency turn and , although she grazed a rock , suffered only moderate damage to her bow . When the fog lifted the next morning , " Somers " discovered and aground on an offshore rock . Together with a passing fishing vessel , " Bueno Amor de Roma " , the destroyer rescued survivors . She arrived at San Diego on 10 September and received repairs at Mare Island from 31 October to 5 December . On 2 January 1924 , " Somers " departed San Diego with the Battle Fleet for the annual fleet concentration , transited the Panama Canal on 18 January , and participated in winter exercises and Fleet Problems II and III in the Caribbean until 31 March . Returning to San Diego in early April , she conducted summer exercises in the Puget Sound area from 2 July to 1 September ; and , after a month at San Diego , returned to Puget Sound for overhaul from 25 November 1924 to 17 February 1925 . Departing San Diego on 3 April 1925 , " Somers " headed for Hawaii . She participated in Joint Army and Navy Problem 3 en route and arrived at Pearl Harbor with the fleet on 27 April . On 1 July , the Battle Fleet , including " Somers " , departed Pearl Harbor for a goodwill cruise to the Southwest Pacific and visited Melbourne , Australia ; Dunedin and Wellington , New Zealand ; and American Samoa , before returning to San Diego on 26 September . " Somers " sailed on 1 February 1926 from San Diego for the annual fleet concentration off the Canal Zone which lasted until 20 March . On 14 June , she departed San Diego for summer exercises in the Puget Sound area , returning on 1 September . Annual overhaul at Puget Sound lasted from 7 December 1926 to 19 January 1927 ; and , on 17 February , she was again underway with the Battle Fleet for the fleet concentration . After completing exercises in the Caribbean on 22 April , the fleet made a visit to New York , conducted a joint Army and Navy exercise in Narragansett Bay , and then arrived at Hampton Roads on 29 May for the Presidential Naval Review there . Departing Hampton Roads on 4 June , the Battle Fleet , including " Somers " , called at San Diego from 25 June to 1 July and arrived in the Puget Sound area on 16 July for summer exercises . " Somers " and her squadron left Puget Sound on 20 August and sailed to Hawaii , searching for planes lost on a flight from the United States to Honolulu . She returned to San Diego on 5 September and underwent overhaul at Puget Sound from 25 December 1927 to 29 February 1928 . After a month at San Diego , she sailed on 9 April 1928 with the fleet for Hawaii to conduct Fleet Problem VIII . She returned to San Diego on 23 June and got underway six days later for summer exercises in Puget Sound including a reserve training cruise to Alaska from 7 July to 21 July . Returning to San Diego on 4 September , she received repairs at Bremerton , Washington from 31 December 1928 to 8 February 1929 ; and , after spending the spring at San Diego , operated with the fleet off Puget Sound from 18 June to 28 August . On 25 September 1929 at San Diego , she towed from the reserve fleet to her buoy . Fate . On 10 April 1930 , " Somers " was decommissioned and " Buchanan " commissioned in her place . " Somers " was struck from the Navy list on 18 November 1930 , scrapped at Mare Island in 1930 and 1931 , and her materials were sold on 19 March 1931 .