 = 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 . 
 
 