The USS Mayo was the first and last ship to bear that name in the annals of American History. She proudly bears the name of the World War I Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

Admiral Henry Thomas Mayo was born in Burlington, VT on December 8, 1856. He was admitted to and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1876. He served on the USS Bennington during the Spanish-American War. By 1913, Rear Admiral Henry Mayo commanded the Fourth Division of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

With WWI already underway, Admiral Mayo was designated as the Vice-Admiral of the Atlantic Fleet in 1915. By June of the following year, Vice-Admiral Mayo would be appointed to Commander-in-Chief of the US Atlantic Fleet and would obtain the rank of Admiral.

Admiral Mayo represented the United States at a naval conference of the Allied Nations in London to determine the naval operations to be administered against Germany in WWI. For his achievements, Admiral Mayo was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for the outstanding operation of the US Atlantic Fleet in a condition of war.