USS Toucey (DD-282)

USS Toucey (DD-282) was a Clemson class destroyer that served with the Atlantic Fleet and the Scouting Force in the 1920s before being scrapped because of her badly worn boilers.

The Toucey was named after Isaac Toucey, the Secretary of the Navy from 6 March 1857-3 March 1861.

USS Toucey (DD-282)
at Toulon, 1927

The Toucey was laid down at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp’s Squantum yard on 26 April 1919 and launched on 5 September 1919 when she was sponsored by Miss Elizabeth Alden Robinson. She was commissioned on 9 December 1919, and after her shakedown cruiser joined Division 42, Flotilla 7, Squadron 1 of the Atlantic Fleet. For the next few years she took part in the standard pattern of life of the Atlantic, with the summers spent operating along the US East Coast and the winters spend in the Caribbean. She also took part in the annual fleet concentrations.

By 1 January 1922 she had been moved to Division 25, Squadron 9 of the Atlantic Fleet, and was operating at half complement. By 1 January 1923 she was back in full commission, and joined the newly formed Scouting Force, where she spent the rest of her career.

Late in 1926 she departed for a visit to European waters, which lasted until May 1927, although the date of her return to Europe is unclear.

USS Toucey (DD-282) from the front

In 1927 she was photographed at the French naval base at Toulon. The US Navy’s History site also has a cutting from the Plymouth Weekly News that shows officers from the Toucey and Breck visiting a memorial to Commander William Henry Allen, USN, on an unspecified Monday. The visit was related to Memorial Day, then celebrated on 30 May, which was a Monday in 1927. Frustratingly the clipping doesn’t include the date, but the Breck was in European waters in May 1927 but not in the previous year.

After her return from Europe the Toucey joined the Scouting Force destroyers, based at Norfolk, Virginia.

In 1929 she was commanded by Captain Charles Adair, who was on the staff of the Commander in Chief of the US Asiatic Fleet when the Japanese attacked, escaped from Corregidor, took part in the brief defence of Java, helped build up the US naval forces in Western Australia and then served as planning and operation officer for the Seventh Amphibious Force during the landings on New Guinea, New Britain, the Admirably Islands and the Philippines.

In the spring of 1930, she moved to Philadelphia to prepare for inactivation. On 1 May 1930, Toucey was decommissioned at Philadelphia. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 22 October. The former destroyer was sold on 17 January 1931 and scrapped sometime in 1934.

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.

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