Town class destroyers of the Royal Navy

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 35. Chapters: USS Wickes, HMS Campbeltown, USS Twiggs, USS Thomas, USS Yarnall, USS Welles, USS Robinson, USS Welborn C. Wood, USS Tillman, USS Hunt, USS Fairfax, USS Herndon, USS Crowninshield, USS Philip, USS Kalk, USS Maddox, USS Branch, USS Aaron Ward, USS Foote, USS McCalla, USS Abel P. Upshur, USS Edwards, USS Ringgold, USS Craven, USS Cowell, USS Evans, USS Aulick, USS Hale, USS Satterlee, USS Claxton, USS Rodgers, USS Mason, USS Hopewell, USS Sigourney, USS Conner, USS Laub, USS Shubrick, USS Stockton, USS Bailey, USS Bagley, USS Swasey, USS Abbot, USS McLanahan, USS Meade. Excerpt: The first USS Wickes (DD-75) was the lead ship of her class of destroyers in the United States Navy during the World War I, later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Montgomery. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Montgomery. Wickes was laid down on 26 June 1917 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 25 June 1918; sponsored by Miss Ann Elizabeth Young Wickes, the daughter of Dr. Walter Wickes, a descendant of Lambert Wickes and commissioned on 31 July 1918, Lieutenant Commander John S. Barleon in command. After an abbreviated shakedown, Wickes departed Boston on 5 August and arrived at New York on the 8th. Later that day, she sailed for the British Isles, escorting a convoy of a dozen merchantmen. After shepherding her charges across the Atlantic, Wickes was detached from the convoy to make a brief stop at Queenstown, Ireland, on 19 August. Underway again the following day, the warship sailed for the Azores to pick up passengers and United States-bound mail at Ponta Delgada before continuing on to New York. Wickes subsequently escorted convoys off the northeast coast of the United States. She departed New York on 7 October, bound for Nova Scotia; but, during the voyage north, her crew was hit by influenza. Soon after the ship's arrival at Halifax, 30 men-including the commanding officer-were hospitalized ashore. Soon the outbreak of flu in Wickes abated, but bad luck seemed to dog the destroyer. She departed New York at 1748 on 23 October, screening ahead of the armored cruiser Pueblo and escorting a convoy of merchant vessels. At 2104, Wickes sighted an unidentified ship to port on a collision course. She immediately changed her course and switched on her lights. When the oncoming ship failed to give way, the destroyer ordered full speed astern and went to general quarters. At 2110, only six minutes after the initial sighting, the unidentified ship's bow smashed into Wickes port billboard. The stem of the stranger cut through