USS Jenkins, DD-42
WWI "Flivver Type" Destroyer
Displacement: 887 tons, length: 293'11", beam: 27'; draft: 8'4"; speed: 31.27 k, crew: 89 in peace time, 107 in war time, armament: 5 three-inch 50 cal. guns, 2 .30 cal. Machine guns, four 18-inch torpedo tubes in twin deck mountings, Machinery, 12,000 SHP; Parsons Turbines, 4 Normand boilers 2 screws, Fuel Oil Capacity: 222 tons Class: Monaghan
USS Jenkins DD-42 under way in 1918
USS Jenkins (DD-42) was laid down 24 March 1911 by Bath Iron Works Bath Maine and launched 29 April 1912. She was sponsored by Miss Alice Jenkins who was the daughter of Rear Admiral Jenkins, and commissioned on 15 June 1912 with Lt. Comdr. E. H. De Lany in command.
In the years that preceded World War I Jenkins, based at Newport, R.I., trained with the Atlantic Fleet, sailing to the Caribbean for winter maneuvers operating along the East Coast in summer. In October, 1912, the bulk of the United States Navy gathered in the Hudson River off Manhattan Island. There, on October 14, the fleet was reviewed by President William Howard Taft, who apparently had decided against campaigning in his re-election struggle against Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. (Ironically, Roosevelt would be shot that same day while campaigning in Milwaukee.) Taft, accompanied by Secretary of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer, was able to view what the New York Times called "the greatest assemblage of naval strength ever assembled." While this may have been hyperbolic exaggeration, the ships gathered at New York did represent a significant naval force. The vessels ranged from auxiliaries to the new "Super-Dreadnought" battleships Arkansas and Wyoming, both recent additions to the fleet. The 24 Destroyers present at the review represented a cross-section of the US Navy's early efforts at ships of this class. Some were newly built, modern vessels, others had been languishing in the Reserve Fleet. During this Fleet Review the Jenkins was one of the 24 Destroyers and she was still under command of Lt. Comdr. E. H. De Lany. In mid-April 1914, she sailed to Tampico, Mexico, to join the US Naval and Marine force there headed by the cruiser USS South Dakota to support the American occupation of Vera Cruz.
As the war raged in Europe, Jenkins continued patrol operations along the North American coast in search of possible German U-boats. The patrols and maneuvers sharpened her war-readiness, so that, true to Navy tradition, she was ready for any eventuality when she sailed for Europe on 26 May 1917.
Based at Queenstown, Ireland, Jenkins and her sister destroyers patrolled the eastern Atlantic, escorting convoys and rescuing survivors of sunken merchantmen. She continued escort and patrol duty for the duration of the War. Though she made several submarine contacts no results were determined.
Early in the morning of August 13, 1918 a field of seventeen transports under the escort of HMS Roxburgh, this convoy picked up its destroyer escort consisting of the USS Terry DD-25 and the USS Jenkins DD-42. Two of the ship in the convoy were the HMS Margha and the HMS Anselm, both carring the 71st Artillery CAC. On Thursday August 15, the convoy sailed into Liverpool, with flags flying and the band playing on the deck for the first time since leaving Halifax. Following the signing of the Armistice 11 November 1918, Jenkins sailed for home, arriving Boston 3 January 1919.
The destroyer operated along the Atlantic coast until arriving at Philadelphia 20 July. She remained there until decommissioning 31 October 1919. Jenkins was scrapped in 1935 in accordance with the Treaty of London.
An undated war-time photo of the Jenkins
Another undated photo of the Jenkins. In this view she does not have her war-time paint and this may be a pre-war photo.
The Crews Muster
As I find information and stories of former crewmen of the USS Jenkins I will post them in this section. If you have a family menber who served on the USS Jenkins please e-mail me at: Joe Hartwell
Walter Glenn Barker
Carole Barker contacted me about her great-uncle Walter Glenn Barker who was a crewman on the USS Jenkins during WWI. She shared this information about Walter.
Walter Glenn Barker was born January 17, 1897 in Meridian, Ms. to William Anderson Barker and Lou Delia Vinson Barker both of whom were born in MS. Wm Anderson Barker was a retail merchant. Walter Glenn Barker was found to be a graduate of Meridian High School for the year 1915-1916. He has two sisters, Kate May and Nellie M. who were both younger than he. He also had two half siblings, Lawrence Wellington Barker (my grandfather) and Birdie Belle. Their mother was Kate Belle Vinson. Walter's draft registration card describes him as stout, blue eyes and with light colored hair. A service record shows him assigned to the USS Jenkins May 31, 1919. The 1920 Lauderdale Co., MS census lists him as Glen W. Barker and a clerk in his father's store. On his mother's obituary of 1946 it says that he was living in Pascagoula, MS. He died Dec 2, 1952 and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Meridian, MS.
Boatswain Mate First Class, William Joseph Hurst
As told by Sandra Hurst Mader, William was her Great Uncle.
William Joseph Hurst was born May 9, 1892 in Cleveland, Ohio to James Hurst and Catherine McCormick. James was a ship's carpenter on the Cleveland shipyards. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1871 to Irish immigrants. Catherine was born in Northern Ireland in 1865 and came to America in 1885. They were married in 1889 and had five children, James John born 1889 (my Grandpa), William born 1892, Hugh born 1894, Hattie born 1896, and Frank born 1898.
William received his draft notice for the U.S. Army shortly before June 5, 1917, the date the second draft registration was to be held of men in William's age group. The next day he went downtown and enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve Forces. By April 10, 1917, he was signed up and by May 11, 1917, William was aboard the U.S.S. Jenkins in Philadelphia as a seaman. On March 1, 1918 he was promoted to coxswain until the end of the war.
After the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 the U.S.S. Jenkins would soon be sailing back to America, but William stayed in Queenstown, Ireland where the Jenkins was based out of during the war. It seems the lad got into a bit of trouble in Queenstown, having to do with alcohol and the hospital but his enlistment was extended until May 8, 1920. From the end of the war, William was assigned to the U.S.S. Dixie, AD1, an auxiliary cruiser and The U.S.S. Santa Malta SP3125, a troop ship bringing soldiers back home from France. Within that time he straightened up and by July 1, 1919 was promoted to Boatswain Mate First Class, after his last trip on the Santa Malta. On October 24, 1919, he was rewarded with his separation with an honorable discharge at the Pittsburgh Demobilization Station.
In civilian life, William was a printer and never married. He died April 17, 1936 of tuberculosis. He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. His military record states he was 5 feet, 5 1/2 inches tall and 158 pounds with brown eyes and dark brown hair with a ruddy or reddish complexion. He must have been a heck of a guy because on June 11, 1920, his big brother James John Hurst had a son (my Dad) and named him William Joseph Hurst after his uncle.
On June 30, 2006 William Joseph Hurst's Veterans Admistration military headstone was placed. The order from Calvary Cemetery to the VA for the headstone was placed on April 17, 2006 which, was exactly 60 years to the day that William Joseph Hurst passed away.
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This page was created on 12 March, 2004 and last modified on:
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