text: uss o 'brien ( dd - 51 ) uss o 'brien ( destroyer no. 51 / dd - 51 ) was the lead ship of o 'brien - class destroyers built for the united states navy prior to the american entry into world war i. the ship was the second us navy vessel named in honor of jeremiah o 'brien and his five brothers gideon , john , william , dennis , and joseph who , together on the sloop unity , captured a british warship during the american revolutionary war . o 'brien was laid down by william cramp and sons of philadelphia in september 1913 and launched in july 1914 . after her may 1915 commissioning , o 'brien sailed off the east coast and in the caribbean . she was one of seventeen destroyers sent out to rescue survivors from five victims of german submarine u - 53 off the lightship nantucket in october 1916 . after the united states entered world war i in april 1917 , o 'brien was sent overseas to patrol the irish sea out of queenstown , ireland . after returning to the united states in january 1919 , o 'brien revisited european waters in may to serve as one of the picket ships for the nc - type seaplanes in the first aerial crossing of the atlantic . o 'brien was decommissioned at philadelphia in june 1922 . she was struck from the naval vessel register in march 1935 and sold for scrapping in april . design and construction o 'brien was authorized in march 1913 as the lead ship of the o 'brien class , which was an improved version of the cassin - class destroyers authorized in 1911 . construction of the vessel was awarded to william cramp and sons of philadelphia which laid down her keel on 8 september 1913 . on 20 july 1914 , o 'brien was launched by sponsor miss marcia bradbury campbell , great - great - granddaughter of gideon o 'brien , one of the ship 's namesakes . gideon and his four brothers — john , william , dennis , and joseph — were crewmen aboard sloop unity , under the command of their brother jeremiah o 'brien , when that vessel captured hms margaretta on 12 june 1775 during the american revolutionary war ; the destroyer o 'brien was named after all six brothers , and was the second us navy vessel named in their honor . as built , the destroyer was 305 ft 3 in ( 93 . 04 m ) in length , 31 ft 1 in ( 9 . 47 m ) abeam , and drew 9 ft 6 in ( 2 . 90 m ) . the ship had a standard displacement of 1 , 050 long tons ( 1 , 070 t ) and displaced 1 , 171 long tons ( 1 , 190 t ) when fully loaded . o 'brien had two zoelly steam turbines that drove her two screw propellers , and an additional pair triple - expansion steam engines , each connected to one of the propeller shafts , for cruising purposes . four oil - burning white - forster boilers powered the engines , which could generate 17 , 000 shaft horsepower ( 13 , 000 kw ) , moving the ship at up to 29 knots ( 54 km / h ) . o 'brien 's main battery consisted of four 4 in ( 100 mm ) / 50 caliber mark 9 guns , with each gun weighing in excess of 6 , 100 lb ( 2 , 800 kg ) . the guns fired 33 lb ( 15 kg ) armor - piercing projectiles at 2 , 900 ft / s ( 880 m / s ) . at an elevation of 20 ° , the guns had a range of 15 , 920 yd ( 14 , 560 m ) . o 'brien was also equipped with four twin 21 in ( 533 mm ) torpedo tubes . the general board of the united states navy had called for two anti - aircraft guns for the o 'brien - class ships , as well as provisions for laying up to 36 floating mines . from sources , it is unclear if these recommendations were followed for o 'brien or any of the other ships of the class . pre - world war i o 'brien was commissioned into the united states navy on 22 may 1915 under the command of lieutenant commander c. e. courtney , after which she conducted her shakedown cruise between newport , rhode island , and hampton roads , virginia . in fleet exercises off new york in november , o 'brien collided with the destroyer drayton , in a minor incident that carried away part of drayton 's topmast and wireless gear . in december , she was assigned to the 5th division , torpedo flotilla , atlantic fleet . from early 1916 - spring of 1917 , she operated with the fleet along the east coast and in cuban waters . at 05 : 30 on 8 october 1916 , wireless reports came in of a german submarine stopping ships near the lightship nantucket , off the eastern end of long island . after an sos from the british steamer ss west point was received at about 12 : 30 , rear admiral albert gleaves ordered o 'brien and other destroyers at newport to attend to survivors . the american destroyers arrived on the scene at about 17 : 00 when the u - boat , u - 53 under the command of kapitänleutnant hans rose , was in the process of stopping the holland - america line cargo ship blommersdijk . shortly after , u - 53 stopped the british passenger ship stephano . as rose had done with three other ships u - 53 had sunk earlier in the day , he gave passengers and crew aboard blommersdijk and stephano adequate time to abandon the ships before sinking the pair . in total , 226 survivors from u - 53 's five victims were rescued by the destroyer flotilla . in february 1917 , one of o 'brien 's gun crews hit a target at 5 , 000 yd ( 4 , 600 m ) eight times in eight attempts with one of the destroyer 's 4 in ( 100 mm ) guns , a feat which earned the crew and o 'brien recognition in the independent , a weekly newsmagazine published in boston . world war i returning from winter maneuvers off cuba in march 1917 , the ship was in the york river when the united states declared war on germany on 6 april , entering world war i. after fitting out at brooklyn navy yard , she got underway from new york on 15 may with cummings , nicholson , cushing , and sampson , and joined convoy at halifax , nova scotia , en route to ireland . upon arrival at queenstown on 24 may , o 'brien was assigned to the 6th destroyer division which cooperated with the british forces . she patrolled off the irish coast in company with other destroyers answering distress calls and meeting eastbound convoys to escort them through the war zone . while escorting ss elysia 12 nmi ( 14 mi ; 22 km ) off queenstown on 16 june , lookouts on o 'brien sighted a periscope . heading toward the submarine for an attack , a lookout in the foretop saw the submerged boat pass close along the starboard side . a depth charge was dropped but no immediate evidence of damage was found . nearly three hours later , the british vessel hms jessamine reported a large patch of oil in approximately the same position . the next morning , cushing also reported and confirmed jessamine 's report . the british admiralty believed the submarine was probably seriously damaged . however , later investigation reveals that german submarine u - 16 , the submarine in question , continued to operate and completed her cruise . in the summer of 1918 , o 'brien was transferred to the french coast where she continued her antisubmarine patrols through the end of the war . inter - war period after the signing of the armistice on 11 november , which ended all fighting , o 'brien transported mail and passengers between brest , france , and plymouth , england . she returned to new york on 8 january 1919 , but returned to european waters in may when she served as one of the rescue pickets stationed along the route across the atlantic flown by three navy nc - type seaplanes in the first aerial crossing of the atlantic . in 1919 , she assisted in the unsuccessful first attempt to lay the ambrose channel pilot cable . in july 1920 , she was assigned the hull code of dd - 51 under the us navy 's alphanumeric classification system . o 'brien was decommissioned at philadelphia on 5 june 1922 . the ship was struck from the naval vessel register on 8 march 1935 , and broken up at the philadelphia navy yard , and her materials sold for scrap on 23 april . the ship 's bell remains in the plattsburgh memorial chapel on the former plattsburgh air force base .