USS Tillman, a 1090-ton Wickes class destroyer built at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, was commissioned in April 1921. She operated with the Atlantic Fleet for the next year, but in July 1922 was placed out of commission and laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania.
Tillman returned to commissioned service at the beginning of May 1930, serving with the Scouting Force and Training Squadron in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas for most of the decade. Again decommissioned in June 1939, she was brought back into commission in August 1940 as part of the Nation's response to the growing crisis that accompanied the first year of World War II. USS Tillman was transferred to Great Britain in late November 1940, under the "destroyers for bases" agreement.
Renamed HMS Wells, the destroyer steamed to the United Kingdom in early 1941. She spent most of World War II on North Atlantic escort service. In 1945 Wells became an aircraft training target. Decommissioned in July 1945, she was subsequently scrapped in Scotland.
USS Tillman was named in honor of U.S. Senator Benjamin R. Tillman (1847-1918), who was Chairman of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee during and before World War I.
This page features all the views we have related to USS Tillman (Destroyer # 135, later DD-135).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 7 September 2006