USS Jarvis (DD-38)
The USS Jarvis was a Monoghan-class destroyer that saw service in Vera Cruz and World War I. She was named after James C. Jarvis, who was killed when 13 years old during an engagement between the frigate Constellation and the French frigate La Vengeance in February of 1800. He was honored by the Sixth Congress in March of 1800 for bravery and his devotion to duty. He refused to leave his post, stating “My post is here. I can’t leave it until ordered.” Jarvis was swept overboard when the mast collapsed.
Construction
On July 1, 1911, Jarvis was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Company in Camden, New Jersey. She was sponsored by Mrs. Jean King and launched on April 4, 1912. By October 22, 1912, she was commissioned and under the command of Lieutenant Commander D. P. Mannix. She carried 5 three-inch guns and 6 eighteen-inch torpedo tubes.
Naval History
Jarvis headed straight to Cuba for shakedown, then spent one year in the Caribbean operating out of Norfolk. In April 1914 she departed from Pensacola to perform patrols during the Vera Cruz operation. She returned to Norfolk by June 1914 and operated in the Atlantic until May 1917 when she joined up with US naval forces to operate under Vice Admiral W.S. Sims in European waters.
She performed escort and patrol duties along both the Irish and the English coats beginning in June 1917, operating out of Queenstown, Ireland. Monaghan-class destroyers such as Jarvis were immensely valuable to the Allies because they were able to deal effectively with German submarines. Jarvis rescued the crews of sunken ships that had been torpedoed by enemy submarines on two occasions, saving 41 survivors from the SS Batoum and 22 survivors from the British merchantman Purley. Immediately after recovering the survivors from the Batoum, she positioned herself between a U-boat and the SS Mechanician in order to protect her from being torpedoed.
Jarvis continued to patrol out of Queenstown until February 1918 when she set sail for Brest to guard Allied ships along the coast of France. She stayed there until December 28th of that same year when she set sail for the United States. She arrived in Philadelphia in January 1919, patrolled along the Atlantic coast until July 1919 when she returned to Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on November 26, 1919. She was scrapped and her materials were in April 1935 under the terms of the London Treaty of 1930.
Asbestos Risk on the USS Jarvis (DD-38)
The installation of asbestos fireproofing in the construction of oceangoing ships was required by Congress in the early 1930s, after a deadly fire on a cruise ship killed 137 passengers and crew. Ships like Jarvis utilized asbestos-containing materials in large amounts around engines and engineering spaces, as well as for insulation in the other sections of the ship.
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Sources
“Jarvis [I].” Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. (http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/j2/jarvis-i.htm). Retrieved 15 December 2010.
