Town Class Destroyers of the Royal Canadian Navy - USS Bancroft (DD-256), USS Claxton (DD-140), USS Crowninshield (DD-134), USS Edwards (DD-265), USS E (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 24. Chapters: USS Bancroft (DD-256), USS Claxton (DD-140), USS Crowninshield (DD-134), USS Edwards (DD-265), USS Evans (DD-78), USS Fairfax (DD-93), USS Hale (DD-133), USS Haraden (DD-183), USS Kalk (DD-170), USS MacKenzie (DD-175), USS Maddox (DD-168), USS McCook (DD-252), USS Thatcher (DD-162), USS Twiggs (DD-127), USS Wickes (DD-75), USS Williams (DD-108), USS Yarnall (DD-143). Excerpt: The first USS Wickes (DD-75) was the lead ship of her class of destroyers in the United States Navy during the World War I, later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Montgomery. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Montgomery. Wickes was laid down on 26 June 1917 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 25 June 1918; sponsored by Miss Ann Elizabeth Young Wickes, the daughter of Dr. Walter Wickes, a descendant of Lambert Wickes and commissioned on 31 July 1918, Lieutenant Commander John S. Barleon in command. After an abbreviated shakedown, Wickes departed Boston on 5 August and arrived at New York on the 8th. Later that day, she sailed for the British Isles, escorting a convoy of a dozen merchantmen. After shepherding her charges across the Atlantic, Wickes was detached from the convoy to make a brief stop at Queenstown, Ireland, on 19 August. Underway again the following day, the warship sailed for the Azores to pick up passengers and United States-bound mail at Ponta Delgada before continuing on to New York. Wickes subsequently escorted convoys off the northeast coast of the United States. She departed New York on 7 October, bound for Nova Scotia; but, during the voyage north, her crew was hit by influenza. Soon after the ship's arrival at Halifax, 30 men-including the commanding officer-were hospitalized ashore. Soon the outbreak of flu in Wickes abated, but bad luck seemed to dog the destroyer. She...