Officers and Crews of
USS Dyer (DD-84),
Dardanelles, 1919
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USS Dyer (DD-84) was a Wickes class destroyer that operated from Gibraltar late in the First World War and then served as flagship of the US naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean in 1919.
The Dyer was named after Nehemiah Mayo Dyer, a US naval officer during the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War, fighting at Mobile Bay in 1864 and Manila Bay in 1898.
The Dyer was built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation of Quincy, Mass. She was launched on 13 April 1918 and commissioned on 1 July 1918.
The Dyer was allocated to the US naval forces based at Gibraltar. On 9 July 1918 she left New York with Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt on board (making her his flagship for the voyage). She delivered the future president to Plymouth on 21 July, and then left for Gibraltar on 26 July, arriving on 29 July.
On 4 August the Dyer began a period of operations escorting merchant convoys and troop transports between Gibraltar and Marseilles. Between then and the end of the war she carried out the voyage nine times.
Anyone who served on her between 7 July 1918 and 11 November 1918 qualified for the First World War Victory Medal.
After the end of the war the Dyer was allocated to the US Naval Forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. She departed Gibraltar on 29 January 1919 at the start of a rather round-about trip to her new base at Venice. On her way she visited Spalato (Dalmatia), Cattaro (Montenegro), Brindisi (Italy), Constantinople and Beirut before officially reported at Venice on 5 February. She then became the flagship of the force. She took part in relief activities in the Balkans and the Middle East, helped implement the Austrian Armistice (a tricky task after the disappearance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) and carried passengers and supplies around the Adriatic.
On 11 May the Dyer (along with the battleship Arizona (BB-39) and the destroyers Luce (DD-99) and Manley (DD-74) arrived at Smyrna, in the Ottoman Empire, to help prepare for the occupation of the port by Greek forces.
Soon after this she departed for the United States, transporting two Members of Congress back to New York, where she arrived on 14 June 1919. She had a limited post-war career. She was in the reserve in reduced commission from 1 October 1919-31 October 1920. She then operated from Charleston until 3 April 1922, when she departed to Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on 7 June 1922. She was sold for scrap on 8 September 1936, to help satisfy the terms of the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936.
Displacement (standard) |
1,060t |
Displacement (loaded) |
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Top Speed |
35kts design |
Engine |
2 shaft Parsons turbines |
Range |
2,500nm at 20kts (design) |
Armour - belt |
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- deck |
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Length |
314ft 4.5in |
Width |
30ft 11.5in |
Armaments |
Four 4in/ 50 guns |
Crew complement |
100 |
Launched |
13 April 1918 |
Commissioned |
1 July 1918 |
Sold |
8 September 1936 |
U.S. Destroyers: An Illustrated Design History, Norman Friedmann .
The standard history of the development of American destroyers, from the earliest torpedo boat destroyers to the post-war fleet, and covering the massive classes of destroyers built for both World Wars. Gives the reader a good understanding of the debates that surrounded each class of destroyer and led to their individual features.
