USS McCormick (DD-223)
The USS McCormick (DD-223) served in the US Navy for more than two decades during the early part of the 20th century. She was named for Lieutenant Alexander Agnew McCormick who served in the US Navy during World War I. McCormick was built as a Clemson-class ship.
Construction
McCormick was laid down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by the William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company in August 1919, launched in January 1920, and commissioned in August with Lieutenant Commander L.C. Scheibla in command. Carrying a crew of 114, McCormick was armed with four 4-inch rapid-fire guns, one three-inch anti-aircraft gun, and twelve 21-inch torpedo tubes.
Naval History
McCormick served with Destroyer Squadron 5, Pacific Fleet before returning to the east coast, and then was deployed with Destroyer Detachment, Naval Forces to the Mediterranean, where she served in a diplomatic capacity until the spring of 1924. In 1925, McCormick was deployed to the Philippines with the Asiatic Fleet and conducted patrols in the Yangtze River and South China until 1932. She was decommissioned at San Diego in October 1938.
McCormick was assigned to neutrality patrol following re-commissioning in September 1939, and operated in the North Atlantic as a convoy escort. On the return trip from Casablanca in July 1942, McCormick and her accompanying convoy encountered four German U-boats, all of which were destroyed by planes from the aircraft carriers in the group. McCormick resumed convoy escorts out of New York in July until December.
McCormick escorted Albemarle from Brazil to Casablanca and then performed escort and anti-submarine patrols out of Boston in April 1944, and then escorted trans-Atlantic convoys to North Africa in May, to ports such as Bizerte, Oran, Falmouth, Belfast, Cherbourg, and Milford Haven. She continued escort and patrol duty on the east coast and Caribbean in October, and then to Casablanca again in January 1945.
Reclassified as miscellaneous auxiliary AG-118 in June, McCormick temporarily served in the Panama Canal Zone and underwent overhaul at Boston in July until World War II ended. McCormick was decommissioned in October 1945, stricken from the Navy list in October, and sold for scrap to the Boston Metals Company in December 1946.
Asbestos Risk on the USS McCormick (DD-223)
The installation of asbestos insulation in the construction of marine ships was ordered by the US Congress in the early 1930s, after a deadly fire aboard a cruise ship killed 137 people. Ships like McCormick deployed asbestos insulation in great quantities, especially in engines and engine spaces, as well as for fireproofing in all sections of the ship.
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Sources
Haze Gray & Underway. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. DD-223.
http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/destroy/dd223txt.htm Retrieved 28 December 2010.
NavSource Naval History, USS McCormick (DD-223).
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/223.htm Retrieved 28 December 2010.
