USS Melville (AD-2)

USS Melville (AD-2) in 1929
History
Name:	USS Melville
Namesake:	George W. Melville
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding, Camden, New Jersey
Laid down:	11 November 1913
Launched:	2 March 1913
Commissioned:	3 December 1915
Decommissioned:	9 August 1946
Struck:	23 April 1947
Fate:	Sold for scrapping, 19 August 1948
General characteristics
Type:	Destroyer tender
Displacement:	7,150 long tons (7,265 t)
Length:	417 ft 3 in (127.18 m)
Beam:	54 ft 5.5 in (16.599 m)
Draft:	20 ft (6.1 m) Ship power=4,000 shp (3,000 kW)
Propulsion:	2 Parsons geared turbines 2 × Thornycroft boilers
Speed:	15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	397
Armament:	As Built: •8 × 5 in (127 mm) guns 1 × 3 in (76 mm) guns 2 × 3-pounder guns 1 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tube By World War II: •2 × 5 in (127 mm) guns 4 × 3 in (76 mm) guns 4 × 40 mm (1.6 in) anti-aircraft guns

20 ft (6.1 m)

USS Melville (AD-2) was a United States Navy destroyer tender that saw service in both World Wars. Laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, on 11 November 1913, she was launched on 2 March 1913, sponsored by Miss Helen W. Neel, granddaughter of Rear Admiral George W. Melville; and was first commissioned on 3 December 1915, Comdr. Henry Bertram Price in command.

Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, Melville reported to Newport, in January 1916. On 11 May 1917, a month after the United States entered World War I, the destroyer tender got underway for Queenstown, Ireland, arriving on the 22nd. She carried out repair and support operations and served as flagship for Vice Admiral William Sims, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in European waters, from 10 September-4 January 1919.

Melville departed Southampton, England, on 7 January 1919 with troops embarked for the east coast, arriving at New York on the 26th. She then operated at Newport and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba until 30 April, when she departed Tompkinsville, N.Y., for the Azores. There she prepared flying boat NC-4 for the final leg of her long transatlantic journey from New York to Europe and embarked crippled NC-3 for return to the east coast, reaching New York on 10 June.

Reassigned to the Pacific Fleet, the destroyer tender stood out from Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 19 July for the west coast. En route one of her boilers exploded injuring six men, five of them fatally. The collier Orion took her in tow for repairs at Balboa, Panama Canal Zone. On 31 October she arrived at her new home port, San Diego, California, for service along the west coast, alternating with training and fleet exercises in the Caribbean and off Hawaii for the next 21 years.