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USS Lansdale (DD-101/ DM-6) was a Wickes class destroyer that entered service in the last days of the First World War, serving in the Mediterranean in 1919, then as a minelayer in the 1920s.
The Lansdale was named after Philip Van Horne Lansdale, a US naval officer who was killed during an Anglo-American intervention on Samoa in 1899.
The Lansdale was laid down on 20 April 1918 at Quincy, Mass, launched on 21 July 1918 and commissioned on 26 October 1918.
The Lansdale left Boston on 4 November to join the Cruiser and Transport Force, arriving at Norfolk, Virginia on 7 November. Her wartime service was considered to have started on 4 November, and anyone who served on her between then and 11 November 1918 qualified for the First World War Victory Medal.
The Lansdale departed from Norfolk on 12 November as part of the escort of a convoy heading for Europe. She was detached at the Azores, and reached Gibraltar on 26 November. Between then and January 1919 she was based at Gibraltar, and made three trips to Tangier and one to Algiers.
On 4-13 January 1919 she headed east to her new base at Venice, where she joined the US naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. Her main role in the Adriatic was to serve on dispatch duty between Venice and the ports on the former Austro-Hungarian coast. She performed this role until 10 June, when she departed from Spalato, on the Dalmatian coast, at the start of her voyage home.
The Lansdale reached New York on 22 June 1919. She spent the next year with the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, before on 11 July 1920 she arrived at Philadelphia to be converted into a light minelayer, with the new classification DM-6.
The Lansdale moved to Newport, Rhode Island, on 2-3 June 1921. She joined the Mine Force, Atlantic Fleet at Gloucester, Mass, on 5 July 1921 and spent the next three months practicing in her new role off New England and Virginia. Early in 1922 she took part in exercises in the West Indies with Mine Squadron 1. She then moved to Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on 25 June 1922.
The Lansdale was recommissioned on 1 May 1930 and joined Mine Squadron 1 at Yorktown. During the summer of 1930 she took part in mining exercises off the east coast. In October and early November she served as a target ship for submarines off New London, Conn. After a final visit to Boston she returned to Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned on 24 March 1931.
On 28 December 1936 the Lansdale was reduced to a hulk to satisfy the terms of the London Naval Treaty. She was struck off the Naval Register on 25 January 1937 and sold for scrap on 16 March 1939.
Displacement (standard) |
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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 |