U.S.S. Allen (1916)

U.S.S. Allen (1916)
Hull Number:	DD-66
Builder:	Bath Iron Works
Laid down:	10 May, 1915
Launched:	5 Dec, 1916
Commissioned:	24 Jan, 1917
Decommissioned:	22 Jun, 1922
Stricken:	1945
Sold:

U.S.S. Allen was one of six Sampson class destroyers completed for the U.S. Navy.

Service

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

Allen was commissioned on 24 January, 1917 under Lieutenant Commander Samuel W. Bryant.

Allen conducted patrol and escort duty along the eastern seaboard and in the West Indies for the next five months. 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-boats 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 submarines on ten separate occasions, but post-war 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 the George Washington, 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 arrived at New York on 7 January, 1919.

Captains

• Lieutenant Commander Samuel W. Bryant, 24 January, 1917
• Commander Louis C. Farley, 19 February, 1918
• Lieutenant Commander Alfred S. Wolfe, before 1 January, 1926 – after 19 July, 1927

See Also

• Wikipedia