USS Tucker (DD-57) - World War I

World War I

The immediate and pressing need for escort ships led to the deployment of American destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland; Tucker, Rowan, Cassin, Ericsson, Winslow, and Jacob Jones set out from Boston on 7 May 1917 as the second contingent of United States ships designated to operate in conjunction with British surface forces patrolling off the Irish coast. Arriving ten days later, Tucker and her sister ships soon commenced wartime operations. On 12 June, she rescued 47 survivors from the stricken merchantman SS Poluxena; on 1 August, she saved 39 men from SS Karina, which had been torpedoed by German submarine UC-75. For the remainder of 1917 and into the late spring of 1918, Tucker operated out of Queenstown, hunting German submarines, escorting and convoying ships through the submarine-infested war zones, and providing assistance to ships in distress.

In June 1918, Tucker joined the escorts working out of Brest, France. On 1 August, while steaming out to meet an inbound convoy, she received word that the group's escort, the French cruiser Dupetit-Thuoars, had been torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. The American destroyer soon arrived on the scene and helped to save the survivors of the stricken French warship from the waters of the Bay of Biscay. Tucker's efforts, and those of the five other American destroyers who were also present, were rewarded by a commendation from the Préfet Maritime, on behalf of the French Ministry of Marine.

Tucker obtained her share of the submarine hunting the day after assisting in the rescue of Dupetit-Thuoars' crew, on 8 August. Sighting a U-boat, Tucker sped to the attack, dropping depth bombs on the vessel. The British Admiralty gave credit to Tucker for a "possibly sunk" as a result of the attack. As antisubmarine warfare was in its infancy, however, attempts to verify the "kill" proved to be inconclusive. On 11 November 1918, the armistice was signed, and hostilities ceased along the war-torn Western Front.