View source for USS Sampson (DD-63)

{{Short description|Sampson-class destroyer}}
{{Other ships|USS Sampson}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin
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{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = USS Sampson DD-63.jpg
| Ship caption = USS ''Sampson'' (DD-63)
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{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = 
| Ship country = United States
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United States|naval}}
| Ship name = USS ''Sampson''
| Ship namesake = Admiral [[William T. Sampson]] (1840–1902)
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = [[Fore River Shipbuilding Company]], [[Quincy, Massachusetts|Quincy]],&nbsp;[[Massachusetts]]
| Ship laid down = 21 April 1915
| Ship launched = 4 March 1916
| Ship acquired = 
| Ship commissioned = 27 June 1916
| Ship decommissioned = 15 June 1921
| Ship in service = 
| Ship out of service = 
| Ship struck = 7 January 1936
| Ship identification = DD-63
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship fate = Sold for scrapping 8&nbsp;September&nbsp;1936
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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| Header caption = 
| Ship class = {{Sclass|Sampson|destroyer}}
| Ship displacement = 1,111 tons (normal), 1,225 tons (full load)
| Ship length = {{convert|315|ft|3|in|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship beam = {{convert|30|ft|7|in|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship draft = {{convert|10|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}
| Ship propulsion = *4 Boilers
*2 Curtis Turbines: {{convert|17696|hp|lk=in|abbr=on}}
| Ship speed = {{convert|29.5|kn|km/h|lk=in}}
| Ship range = 
| Ship complement = 99 officers and crew
| Ship sensors = 
| Ship EW = 
| Ship armament = *4 × [[4"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|4|inch|mm|adj=on}}/50 guns]]
*2 × [[1-pounder]] (37 mm) AA guns
*12 × [[American 21-inch torpedo|21-inch (533 mm)]] [[torpedo tube]]s (4 × 3)
| Ship armour = 
| Ship armor = 
| Ship aircraft = 
| Ship aircraft facilities = 
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'''USS ''Sampson'' (DD-63)''' was the [[lead ship]] of [[Sampson-class destroyer|her class]] of [[destroyer]]s of the [[United States Navy]]. She was the first Navy ship named for [[Admiral]] [[William T. Sampson]] (1840–1902).

==Construction and commissioning==
''Sampson'' was [[Keel-laying|laid down]] on 21 April 1915 by the [[Fore River Shipbuilding Company]] at [[Quincy, Massachusetts|Quincy]], [[Massachusetts]], launched on 4 March 1916, sponsored by Miss Marjorie Sampson Smith, and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] at the [[Boston Navy Yard]] in [[Boston]], Massachusetts, on 27 June 1916.

==Service history==

===World War I===
T''Sampson'' was assigned to Division 9 of the Atlantic Destroyer Force and conducted [[shakedown cruise|shakedown]] training based at [[Narragansett Bay]] in [[Rhode Island]]. The [[United States]] entered [[World War I]] on 6 April 1917, and during the war she was commanded by [[Lieutenant Commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]] Mark L. Hersey, Jr. – the son of [[Major General (United States)|Major General]] [[Mark L. Hersey]]. The younger Hersey received the [[Navy Cross]] for distinguished service while commanding ''Sampson'' and would rise to the rank of [[Commodore (United States)|commodore]] during [[World War II]].

After war games off [[Provincetown, Massachusetts|Provincetown]], Massachusetts, ''Sampson'' cleared [[Tompkinsville, New York|Tompkinsville]], [[Staten Island]], [[New York (state)|New York]], on 15 May 1917 to join the escort screen of a [[convoy]] which touched at [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]], [[Canada]], and reached Queenstown (now [[Cobh]]), [[Ireland]], on 25 May 1917. She reported for duty with the [[United States Naval Forces operating in European waters]] and was assigned to convoy escort duty in the approaches to the [[British Isles]], basing her operations from Queenstown. Two British-type [[depth charge]] projectors were installed on her stern and, on 29 May 1917, she commenced escort duty. She protected [[Troopship|troop transports]] and [[merchant ship]] convoys from [[Imperial German Navy]] [[submarine]]s throughout the remainder of World War I.

On 18 June 1917, ''Sampson'' rescued two small boatloads of survivors of [[Steamship|steamer]] {{SS|English Monarch||2}} and the [[Sea captain|captain]] and 13 sailors from the steamer {{SS|Elele||2}}. The next morning, she picked up another 17 survivors of ''Elele''; and on 20 June 1917 she landed all at Queenstown. ''Sampson'' answered other distress calls before the end of the war, and she made several attacks to drive off submarines reported or seen near her convoys. World War I ended on 11 November 1918.

===Post-war===

''Sampson'' steamed to [[France]] with the Queenstown division of destroyers on 29 November 1918 and stood out from [[Brest, France|Brest]] Harbor in France on 12 December 1918 to escort [[President of the United States|President]] [[Woodrow Wilson]] aboard the liner {{SS|George Washington||2}} into the harbor. Returning to Queenstown on 14 December 1918, she departed for the United States on the 26 December 1918 and arrived at the [[New York Navy Yard]] in [[Brooklyn]], New York, on 7 January 1919.

====4th Division, 2nd Flotilla Destroyer Force====
After repairs at the New York Navy Yard, ''Sampson'' was assigned to the 4th Division, 2d Flotilla, of the Destroyer Force and departed on 22 March 1919 to base her operations from the [[Naval Torpedo Station]] at [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], Rhode Island. She reported to the [[Inspector of Ordnance]] for experimental testing of [[torpedo]]es and [[naval mine]]s, but interrupted this duty in May 1919 to assist in guarding the route of [[NC-4]] during that [[seaplane]]'s crossing of the [[Atlantic Ocean]], the world's first successful trans-oceanic flight.

==Decommissioning and disposal==
''Sampson'' entered the New York Navy Yard on 1 December 1919 for deactivation overhaul which was completed on 14 February 1921.

Towed to the [[Philadelphia Navy Yard]] in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], ''Sampson'' was [[Ship decommissioning|decommissioned]] on 15 June 1921. She remained inactive during the years that followed, and on 17 July 1935 was ordered scrapped in accordance with the [[London Naval Treaty]]. Her name was struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy list]] on 7 January 1936, and on 8 September 1936 she was sold for scrap for $18,750.00 to the Boston Iron and Metal Company, Inc., of [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]].

==External links==
{{commons category|USS Sampson (DD-63)}}

{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/sampson-i.html}}

{{Sampson_class_destroyer}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson (Dd-63)}}
[[Category:Sampson-class destroyers]]
[[Category:World War I destroyers of the United States]]
[[Category:Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:1916 ships]]