USS SHAW DD-68

Three weeks later, on 28 May 1918, Shaw was escorting convoy HC-2 when one of the convoyed vessels, Ansonia, sounded the submarine alarm. The destroyer’s crew went to general quarters and patrolled the point while Ericsson and Cushing (Destroyer No. 55) investigated. Dropping nine depth charges, they achieved no results. Shaw again expended depth charges on 19 June, dropping 15 of them on an oil slick, the destroyer had again obtained no indication of success. In fact she reported to the Admiralty that it was “Doubtful if submarine was in vicinity.”

On 1 July 1918, U-86, under the command of Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Patzig, torpedoed the troop transport Covington (Id. No. 1409). Shaw, hunting for submarines in the Bristol and St. George’s Channels, received an S.O.S. from the stricken vessel and rushed to her aid. On arrival, she found that Covington’s survivors had been removed and the ship taken in tow. The crippled transport, however, sank later that day.

A week later, on 8 July 1918, she was convoying the Commonwealth Government Line of Steamers ship Australplain to Queenstown. Leaving her at Daunt lightship, she stood to the eastward to hunt south of Mine Head. At 0740, Shaw dropped four depth charges on an oil slick and at 1345, when two miles from Connigbeh, she struck some submerged object, she dropped some depth charges and recovered a keg marked S.S. Reserve, N.S.O, Aberdeen (Scotland). On 21August, while bound for Liverpool in company with Aylwin (Destroyer No. 47) and Beale (Destroyer No. 40), Shaw attacked a suspicious wake and dropped five depth charges at 1340 on what proved to be a rip tide.

The destroyer later got underway with Conyngham out of Berehaven on 13 September 1918 en route to rendezvous with convoy HC-16 when she sighted a fresh oil patch at 1000. Shaw fired both of her Y-guns and dropped 21 depth charges but obtained no results. On 25 September, Shaw was shepherding convoy HH-69 when Zinnia came under attack from a German submarine. While the ship was not damaged, the destroyer responded fired one of her guns and dropped a barrage of ten depth charges scattering the convoy, the ships ultimately proceeding to their destination without further incident.

Shaw’s own ordeal, however, came on 9 October 1918. While escorting the British transport Aquitania, Shaw’s rudder jammed just as she was completing the right leg of a zigzag, leaving her headed directly towards the transport. A moment later, Aquitania struck Shaw, cutting off 90 feet of her bow, mangling her bridge and setting her ablaze. Shaw’s crew heroically brought her fire under control, and a skeleton crew of 21 men took the wrecked warship 40 miles into port under her own power. Casualties from the incident included 12 dead and 12 injured. Seventeen members of the crew received commendation from Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels for their courage and devotion to duty.

Shaw remained under repair at Portsmouth, England, until 29 May 1919 when she stood out of the harbor bound for the United States. Meeting up with the transport Narragansett (Id. No. 2196) off Plymouth, England on 30 May, the two proceeded to Ponta Delgada, Azores, arriving on 2 June. Taken on oil and supplies they departed on 6 June with Charles (ex-Harvard), (Id. No. 1298) and Nopatin (Id. No. 2195). Touching at Bermuda on 12 June, they arrived at New York on 16 June 1919 eventually anchoring in the North River that afternoon. Three days later, on 17 June, she moved to the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., and remained moored there until 2 October, when she got underway for League Island, and the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Arriving that same day, she joined the reserve destroyer group. Shaw was re-designated DD-68 on 17 July 1920 and was later decommissioned on 21 June 1922.

Shaw was stricken from the Navy list on 25 March 1926 and transferred to the Treasury Department the same day, along with Davis (DD-65), Wilkes (DD-67), and Tucker (DD-57), for service with the Coast Guard. She was to supplement the destroyers previously transferred to interdict the illegal importation of alcohol in the enforcement of the 18th Amendment (Prohibition).

Maintaining her name in Coast Guard service, Shaw was re-designated CG-22. She departed the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 12 July 1926, bound for her permanent duty station with Division 1 of the Coast Guard Destroyer Force at New London, Conn. Upon her arrival, the next day, 13 July, she was commissioned, Cmdr. Raymond L. Jack, USCG, in command.

While capable of well over 25 knots, seemingly an advantage in interdicting rum runners, Shaw and her fellow destroyers were easily outmaneuvered by smaller vessels. As a result, the destroyer picketed the larger supply ships (“mother ships”) on Rum Row in an attempt to prevent them from off-loading their illicit cargo onto the smaller, speedier contact boats that ran the liquor into shore.

During the annual competition for Gunnery Year 1928-1929, Shaw fired dismally during the Short-Range Battle Practice, finishing last among the 24 destroyers firing. In an almost complete turnaround, she rated 2nd in the Long-Range Battle Practice. Her combined scores saw her standing rise to 4th overall.

During the following year’s competition, Gunnery Year 1929-1930, Shaw was the model of consistency. Under Gunnery Officer, Ens. Edwin J. Roland, USCG (later Commandant of the Coast Guard, 1962-1966), Shaw stood 2nd in both the Short-Range and Long-Range Battle Practices. Her combined scores saw her win the trophy for excellence as the best shooting destroyer. Curiously, that performance fell off markedly in the 1930-1931 competition. She made only 2 hits in 20 shots for a last-place finish in the Short-Range practice and she only managed to place 8th in the Long-Range. As a result, Shaw placed only 10th among the 13 destroyers in the competition. This performance, however, proved an anomaly as she would rebound and win the Gunnery Trophy in the two succeeding years, 1931-1932 and 1932-1933. With three trophies in five years and a 4th place finish in another, Shaw stood unequaled as the best shooting ship during her time in the Destroyer Force.

On 6 October 1931 Shaw received orders detaching her from her assignment with Division One, Destroyer Force at New London, to Division Two at New York.

During her patrol cruise, 22-27 June 1932, Shaw seized the speed boats Maureen of Providence, R.I., and Wild Knight, of Newport, R.I. for violation of navigation laws. The boats were subsequently released by the Collector of Customs at New London, Conn., after each of the owners paid a $500 penalty.

Shaw’s grueling anti-smuggling interdiction duties off the Eastern seaboard wore on her and over time she, along with many of her fellow former-Navy destroyers, had become unfit for service. Ordered to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Shaw arrived on 27 May 1933, where she was decommissioned on 5 June 1933.

Returned to the Navy, Shaw was reinstated on the list of naval vessels effective 30 June 1933. Her name, however, was cancelled on 1 November 1933 to allow for its assignment to a new Mahan-class destroyer. Stricken from the Navy list on 5 July 1934, the veteran of naval and Coast Guard service was sold to Michael Flynn, Inc., Brooklyn, on 22 August 1934 for scrapping in accordance with the London Naval Treaty for the Reduction of Naval Armament.