Pre-War
Following shakedown in European waters in October and November, Sampson returned to Boston, Massachusetts where she was assigned to the Battle Force of the United States Fleet.
Sampson sailed from Boston on 8 March 1939 to take part in combined fleet maneuvers in waters off Cuba and Puerto Rico. She returned from this duty to Yorktown, Virginia, on 12 April and stood out from Hampton Roads on 20 April and headed for the United States west coast. She arrived at San Diego, California on 12 May 1939 and spent the next year in fleet tactics along the western seaboard from that base, taking part in the combined battle practice and maneuvers of the Battle Force off the Hawaiian Islands from 1 April to 20 June 1940. She cleared San Diego on 5 July to base her operations from Norfolk, Virginia where she arrived on the 20th. She then cruised through the Caribbean Sea, from 14 November to 15 December, transporting a government mission which was compiling an economic survey of the British West Indies.
Sampson then continued operations out of Norfolk, engaged in Neutrality Patrol along the eastern seaboard to various ports of the Caribbean Sea, and steamed as far north as Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. On 3 September 1941, she got underway from Boston Harbor to escort convoys and to search for enemy submarines in shipping lanes running from Newfoundland to Iceland. She arrived at Hvalfjordur Fjord, Iceland, on 16 September and cleared that port on 23 October in the escort screen of a merchant convoy which reached Boston on 4 November.
Read more about this topic: USS Sampson (DD-394)