Stockton II DD- 73

Stockton II

(Destroyer No. 73: dp. 1,125 (n.); l. 315'6; b. 31'2; dr. 8'1h; s. 30.12 k. (tl.); cpl. 128; a. 4 4", 2 1-pdr., 12 21" tt.; cl. Caldwell)

The second Stockton (Destroyer No. 73), a torpedo boat destroyer, was laid down on 16 October 1916 by William Cramp & Sons at Philadelphia, Pa., launched on 17 July 1917; sponsored by Miss Ellen Emelie De Martelly, and commissioned on 26 November 1917, Comdr. H. A. Baldridge in command.

Stockton spent the last year of World War I assigned to convoy escort and antisubmarine duty, operating out of Queenstown, Ireland. During that time, she engaged an enemy U boat on at least one occasion. On 30 March 1918, she and modifications (Destroyer No. 56) were escorting the troopship St. Paul on the Queenstown-Liverpool circuit, when Ericsion opened fire on a German submarine. The submerged enemy launched a torpedo at Stockton almost immediately thereafter, and the destroyer narrowly evaded the "fish." The two destroyers dropped patterns of depth charges, but the U-boat managed to evade their attack and escaped. Later that night, Stockton collided with SS Slieve Bloom near South Sark Light. The destroyer had to put into Liverpool for repairs and the merchantman sank.

Stockton returned to the United States in 1919 and for three years continued to serve with the fleet. On 26 June 1922, she was placed out of commission and laid up at Philadelphia, Pa. Stockton was recommissioned on 16 August 1940 and shuttled to Halifax, where she was decommissioned on the 23d and turned over to the United Kingdom under the provisions of the LendLease agreement. She served the Royal Navy as HMS Ludlow. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 8 January 1941.

The name Stockton was assigned on 22 January 1941 to DD-504, an experimental 900-ton destroyer ordered on 9 September 1940 from the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Kearny, N.J. However, the contract v. as canceled on 10 February 1941 and replaced by a contract for a 1 630-ton destroyer of the Gleaves class, Stockton (DD-616).