USS Macdonough (DD-9)

USS Macdonough (DD-9) at anchor in 1908.
History
Name:	Macdonough
Namesake:	Commodore (United States) Thomas Macdonough awarded Congressional Gold Medal
Builder:	Fore River Ship & Engine Company, Weymouth, Massachusetts
Laid down:	21 April 1899
Launched:	24 December 1900
Sponsored by:	Miss Lucy Shaler Macdonough, granddaughter of Commodore Thomas Macdonough
Commissioned:	5 September 1903
Decommissioned:	3 September 1919
Struck:	7 November 1919
Identification:	Hull symbol:DD-7 Code letters:NJH
Fate:	sold March 10, 1920 to Joseph G. Hitner, Philadelphia
Status:	broken up for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type:	Lawrence-class destroyer sub-class of Bainbridge-class destroyer
Displacement:	400 long tons (410 t) (standard)
Length:	246 ft 3 in (75.06 m) (oa)
Beam:	22 ft 3 in (6.78 m)
Draft:	9 ft 5 in (2.87 m)
Installed power:	8,400 shp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × Vertical triple expansion engines 2 × shaft
Speed:	30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h)
Capacity:	108 short tons (98 t) coal
Complement:	73 officers and enlisted
Armament:	2 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns (removed in 1906 after trials found them to be too heavy for ship) 5 × 6-pounder 57 mm (2.2 in) guns (added 2 more in 1906 when 3" guns where removed) 2 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes

The first USS Macdonough (DD-9) was a Lawrence-class destroyer, which was a sub-class of Bainbridge-class destroyer, in the United States Navy. She was named for Commodore Thomas Macdonough

Macdonough was laid down on 10 April 1899 by the Fore River Ship & Engine Company, Weymouth, Massachusetts; launched on 24 December 1900; sponsored by Miss Lucy Shaler Macdonough, granddaughter of Commodore Macdonough; and commissioned on 5 September 1903; Lieutenant Charles S. Bookwalter in command.

Macdonough failed to make the design speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) during trials, and along with her fellow Fore River-built destroyer Lawrence proved to have poor sea keeping. Both ships had their two 3-inch guns replaced by six-pounder guns, giving a gun armament of seven six-pounders.

After shakedown, Macdonough spent seven months as a training ship for midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. On 31 May 1904, she joined the Coast Squadron, North Atlantic Fleet and for the next three years operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean. She was ordered to the Reserve Torpedo Fleet at Norfolk on 16 May 1907 and served with that fleet until the following year.

Placed in full commission on 21 November 1908, Macdonough became the flagship of the 3rd Torpedo Flotilla and sailed for Pensacola, Florida. She participated in operations out of that port until the following spring when she returned to the east coast. During the summer of 1909, she cruised with the Atlantic Torpedo Squadron off New England. She then returned to the Gulf of Mexico and steamed up the Mississippi River for the St. Louis Centennial Celebration. Returning to the east coast in December, she was placed in reserve at Charleston, South Carolina on the 16th. Macdonough took part in summer exercises during the summer of 1910 and returned to Charleston, where, with the exception of two cruises to New York, she remained for the next two years. In 1913 and 1914, she conducted summer cruises for the Massachusetts Naval Militia.