USS Tucker (DD-374)

History
USS Tucker off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 2 March 1937
United States
Name:	Tucker
Namesake:	Samuel Tucker
Builder:	Norfolk Navy Yard
Laid down:	15 August 1934
Launched:	26 February 1936
Commissioned:	23 July 1936
Struck:	2 December 1944
Fate:	Struck mine off Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, 4 August 1942
General characteristics
Class and type:	Mahan-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,500 long tons (1,524 t) (standard) 1,725 long tons (1,753 t) (deep load)
Length:	341 ft 3 in (104.0 m)
Beam:	35 ft 6 in (10.8 m)
Draft:	10 ft 7 in (3.2 m)
Installed power:	46,000 shp (34,000 kW) 4 Babcock & Wilcox or Foster Wheeler boilers
Propulsion:	2 General Electric steam turbines
Speed:	37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range:	6,940 nmi (12,850 km; 7,990 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	158 officers and enlisted men
Sensors and processing systems:	1 × gun director above bridge
Armament:	As built: 5 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. DP (5x1), 12 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (3x4), 4 × . 50 cal (12.7 mm) AA machine guns (4x1), 2 × depth charge stern racks,

USS Tucker (DD-374) was a Mahan-class destroyer in the United States Navy. The ship was named for Samuel Tucker, an officer in both the Continental Navy and the United States Navy.

Tucker began her service in 1936. Following shakedown, the new destroyer was assigned to the United States Battle Fleet in San Diego, California, operating along the West Coast and in the Hawaiian Islands. She participated in naval exercises in the Caribbean Sea, and was then reassigned to duty between the West Coast and Hawaii. After a goodwill tour to New Zealand, the ship returned to Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Tucker was berthed at the East Loch in Pearl Harbor undergoing overhaul but sustained no damage. Afterward, Tucker escorted convoys between the West Coast and Hawaii. She then did escort work to American Samoa, the Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, and Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides.

Tucker entered the harbor at Espirtu Santo's western entrance, leading the cargo ship SS Nira Luckenbach, unaware they had entered a minefield laid earlier by US Navy minelayers. After striking at least one mine, the destroyer was almost torn in two at the No. 1 stack, killing all three of the crew in the forward fireroom. The rest of the crew survived but Tucker did not. The destroyer slowly settled in the water and sank. An investigation revealed that Tucker had been given no information about the existence of the minefield.

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