< Maddox DD- 168

Maddox DD- 168

 

Maddox I
(Destroyer No. 168- dpl. 1,0e0. l. 314's" b. 31'8", dr. 8'6"; s. 35 k.; cpl. 101; a. 4 i", 2 1-pdr. 12 21" tt.; cl.Wickes )

Maddox, Destroyer No. l68, was laid down 20 July 1918 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, Mass. launched 27 October 1918; sponsored by Mrs Clarence N. Hinkamp, granddaughter of Captain Maddox; and commissioned 10 March 1919, Comdr. Edward C. S. Parker in command. On 17 July l920 she was designated DW168.

Assigned to Division 21, Atlantic Fleet, Maddox de.parted Boston 3 May 1919 for Trepassey, Newfoundland, en route to the Azores where she became part of a "bridge of ships" assigned to guide Navy flying boats NC-1 and NC-4 across the ocean on the first transatlantic flight Returning to Boston on the 22d, the destroyer operated out ff there until she sailed for Europe 26 August 1919. Arriving Brest, France, 19 September, she soon joined an honor escort for George Wa~hington, then bound for Osten, Belgium, to embark the Belgian King and Queen for the United States. Detaehed on the 25th,Maddox commenced cross channel service. Until 24 October she escorted ships and carried naval and Army passengere from Dover and EIarwich to Boulogne, France, and the Hook of Holland. Departing Harwich 25 October, the four stacker proceeded through Kiel Canal to visit various Baltic ports.

Returning to the United States 12 February 1920, Maddox operated out of Boston for the next 2 years, off the east coast. Departing Boston 25 February 1922 for Philadelphia, she decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard 14 June 1922.

Inactive for the next 18 years, Maddox recommissioned 17 June 1940. After brief duty on mid-Atlantic neutrality patrol, she departed Newport, R.I., 16 September 1940 for Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she decommissioned 23 September 1940. The next day, under the destroyer-naval base agreement, she was transferred to Great Britain and commissioned in the Royal Navy as HMS Georgetown.

As Georgtown, she participated in operation "Bowery", escorting Wasp in May 1942 on her second reinforcement Of the spitfire strength on the island of Malta. In September 1942, she transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy tor convoy escort duties in the western Atlantic. Returned, to the United Kingdom in December 1943, she Joined the Reserve Fleet and in August 1944 was turned over to the Soviet Navy and renamed Doblestnyi (Glorious or Valiant).