Stribling DD- 96

Stribling
(Destroyer No. 96: dp. 1,191 (n.); l. 314'4/2; b. 30'11 (wl.); dr. 9'2" (mean); s. 34.41 k.; cpl.103; a. 4 4", 2 1-pdrs., 12 21" tt.; cl. Wickes)

The first Stribling (Destroyer No. 96) was laid down at Quincy, Mass., on 14 December 1912 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co., launched on 29 May 1918; sponsored by Miss Mary Calvert Stribling; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 16 August 1918, Lt. Comdr. Thomas E. Van Metre in command.

On 31 August, Stribling departed New York to escort a convoy across the Atlantic. However, machinery trouble forced her back into New York the following day. After almost three weeks in port, she got underway again on 18 September, this time as an escort to a Gibraltar-bound convoy. She fueled at Ponta Delgada in the Azores and made Gibraltar in early October. From there, she sailed with a convoy for Marseilles on 10 October. For the next month, she made several Gibraltar-to-Marseilles circuits with Allied convoys.

After the Armistice' she sailed to Venice, Italy, to investigate post-armistice conditions there and at various other ports on Italy's Adriatic coast and in Dalmatia. At the completion of that duty, she headed back to the United States, arriving home in July of 1919. Stibling entered the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard for overhaul and repairs before being placed in reduced commission at Philadelphia. There, she was converted to a minelayer and, on 17 July 1920, she was redesignated DM-1. In September 1921, she departed Philadelphia and sailed to the west coast and, from there, proceeded on to Pearl Harbor Hawaii. After a series of maneuvers in the islands, Stibling was decommissioned on 26 June 1922. On 1 December 1936 her name was struck from the Navy list. The following month, her hulk was towed to San Pedro, Calif. where she was sunk as a target.