USS Lawrence DD-250
CLASS - CLEMSON as built.
Displacement 1,215 Tons, Dimensions, 314' 5" (oa) x 31' 8" x 9' 10" (Max)
Armament 4 x 4"/50, 1 x 3"/23AA, 12 x 21" tt..
Machinery, 26,500 SHP; Geared Turbines, 2 screws Speed, 35 Knots, Crew 114
Operational and Building Data
Laid down by New York Shipbuilding on August 14 1919.
Launched July 10 1920 and commissioned April 18 1921.
Decommissioned January 6 1931, Recommissioned June 13 1932.
Decommissioned September 13 1938, Recommissioned September 26 1939.
Decommissioned October 24 1945.
Stricken August 13 1945.
Fate - Sold 1 October 1946 and broken up for scrap.
The fourth Lawrence, a 1190-ton Clemson class destroyer built at Camden, New Jersey, was laid down 14 August 1919 by New York Shipbuilding Corp.; launched 10 July 1920; sponsored by Miss Ruth Lawrence; and commissioned 18 April 1921, Lt. Comdr. John H. Wellbrock in command.
After shakedown, Lawrence was assigned to the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet and deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in June 1922, arriving off Constantinople on 4 July. For the next year, the destroyer cruised in the eastern Mediterranean and in the Black Sea as U.S., British, French and other Allied forces rendered aid to refugees and humanitarian crises caused by the Russian Civil War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In addition to assisting Red Cross workers and U.S. Food Administration officials in the region, Lawrence and the other destroyers of her squadron helped evacuate thousands of Greek refugees from Asia Minor which had been occuppied by Turkish troops. Lawrence returned to New York on 30 October 1923 and resumed local operations.
From late 1923 until early 1931 Lawrence served with the Scouting Fleet in the Atlantic and Caribbean, with occasional transits through the Panama Canal to take part in exercises in the Pacific. She also made several Naval Reserve training cruises and was employed off Central America in February and March during unrest in Nicaraguan Civil War in 1927. Returned to Philadelphia later that year, Lawrence decommissioned there on 6 January 1931.
Recommissioned 13 June 1932, Lt. Comdr. Thomas F. Downey in command, Lawrence sailed to San Diego, where she reported for duty on 8 September. She operated there for almost six years, conducting fleet exercises and tactical training drills until she again went out of commission on 13 September 1938.
The outbreak of World War II in Europe brought her back into the active fleet on 26 September 1939, Comdr. Horace D. Clarke in command. The rest of that year, and nearly all of 1940, saw Lawrence operating in the Caribbean and Atlantic on patrol and anti-submarine warfare training service. Returning to the Pacific on 27 December 1940 and later assigned to the Sound School at San Diego, she began convoy escort work soon after the United States entered the Second World War on 7 December 1941. During much of 1942 she shepherded shipping along the West Coast, steaming from San Francisco as far north as the Aleutian Islands. From September 1942 until the end of the war, Lawrence provided patrol and escort services out of San Francisco. On 31 May 1944 she rescued nearly 200 men from the steamship Henry Bergh, which had gone aground in the nearby Farralon Islands. Sent to the East Coast in late August 1945, Lawrence was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 24 October 1945 and sold to Boston Metal Co., Baltimore, Md., for scrapping on 1 October 1946.
After shakedown, Lawrence was assigned to the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet and deployed to the Mediterranean Sea in June 1922, arriving off Constantinople on 4 July. For the next year, the destroyer cruised in the eastern Mediterranean and in the Black Sea as U.S., British, French and other Allied forces rendered aid to refugees and humanitarian crises caused by the Russian Civil War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In addition to assisting Red Cross workers and U.S. Food Administration officials in the region, Lawrence and the other destroyers of her squadron helped evacuate thousands of Greek refugees from Asia Minor which had been occuppied by Turkish troops. Lawrence returned to New York on 30 October 1923 and resumed local operations.
From late 1923 until early 1931 Lawrence served with the Scouting Fleet in the Atlantic and Caribbean, with occasional transits through the Panama Canal to take part in exercises in the Pacific. She also made several Naval Reserve training cruises and was employed off Central America in February and March during unrest in Nicaraguan Civil War in 1927. Returned to Philadelphia later that year, Lawrence decommissioned there on 6 January 1931.
Recommissioned 13 June 1932, Lt. Comdr. Thomas F. Downey in command, Lawrence sailed to San Diego, where she reported for duty on 8 September. She operated there for almost six years, conducting fleet exercises and tactical training drills until she again went out of commission on 13 September 1938.
The outbreak of World War II in Europe brought her back into the active fleet on 26 September 1939, Comdr. Horace D. Clarke in command. The rest of that year, and nearly all of 1940, saw Lawrence operating in the Caribbean and Atlantic on patrol and anti-submarine warfare training service. Returning to the Pacific on 27 December 1940 and later assigned to the Sound School at San Diego, she began convoy escort work soon after the United States entered the Second World War on 7 December 1941. During much of 1942 she shepherded shipping along the West Coast, steaming from San Francisco as far north as the Aleutian Islands. From September 1942 until the end of the war, Lawrence provided patrol and escort services out of San Francisco. On 31 May 1944 she rescued nearly 200 men from the steamship Henry Bergh, which had gone aground in the nearby Farralon Islands. Sent to the East Coast in late August 1945, Lawrence was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 24 October 1945 and sold to Boston Metal Co., Baltimore, Md., for scrapping on 1 October 1946.
The above photo is of the ship's bell from USS Lawrence DD-250 that at one time was displayed at a Naval Reserve Center somewhere in New Jersey.