USS Woolsey, a 1090-ton Wickes class destroyer built at Bath, Maine, was commissioned at the end of September 1918. During the final month of World War I she made one trans-Atlantic convoy escort voyage to Ireland, returning to the U.S. by way of the Azores. She made another eastbound trip across the Atlantic in December 1918 as part of the force escorting President Woodrow Wilson to Brest, France. After some six months of service in European Waters, in late June and early July 1919 Woolsey accompanied President Wilson as he came home from the peace conferences that formally brought the "Great War" to a conclusion. Later in July she transited the Panama Canal to become part of the Pacific Fleet, subsequently taking part in maneuvers in the Hawaiian area and along the West Coast. Woolsey was out of commission between May and October 1920, during time which she was overhauled and somewhat modified. When that work was completed she was placed back in commission and resumed her schedule of Pacific Fleet activities. On 26 February 1921, while at sea off the Panama Canal Zone, USS Woolsey collided with SS Steel Inventor. She was cut in two and sank, with the loss of seventeen crew members.
USS Woolsey was named in honor of Commodore Melancthon Taylor Woolsey, USN, (1782-1838).
This page features all the views we have related to USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77, later DD-77).
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.
Photo #: NH 42078 USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77) Escorting President Woodrow Wilson across the Atlantic to Brest, France, 13 December 1918. Photographed by Zimmer. Note Woolsey's "Dazzle" camouflage, and battleships steaming in the distance. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 580 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 42079 USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77) Escorting President Woodrow Wilson across the Atlantic to Brest, France, 13 December 1918. Photographed by Zimmer. Note Woolsey's "Dazzle" camouflage. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 570 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 95212 USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77) Probably at Brest, France, circa December 1918. Note her weathered pattern camouflage. Collection of Robert S. Waters. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 46KB; 740 x 485 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 93978 USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77), at left, and USS George Washington (ID # 3018) Dressed with flags at Brest France, 29 June 1919. President Woodrow Wilson is on board the George Washington, preparing to return to the United States. Courtesy of Jack Howland, 1982. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 490 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 100642 USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77) Dressed with flags in 1919. The five-masted schooner in the middle distance indicates that the location may be Hampton Roads, Virginia, where Woolsey arrived 8 July 1919 after escorting President Woodrow Wilson across the Atlantic from Brest, France. Courtesy of Jack Howland, 1986. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 530 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 77174 USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77) At anchor, circa 1919-1920. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1973. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 60KB; 740 x 460 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 73608 USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77) Participates in laying a smoke screen, during Pacific Fleet battle practice in Hawaiian waters, circa mid-1919. Photographed by Tai Sing Loo, Honolulu. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1971. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 535 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 70998 USS Woolsey (DD-77) At sea, circa October 1920 - February 1921, after her Number four 4"/50 gun had been moved from the fantail to atop the after deckhouse. The "X" on the photo indicates where Woolsey was rammed by SS Steel Inventor on 26 February 1921. She was cut in two and sunk in this accident. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 435 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 95799 Trans-Atlantic Flight of the "NC" Aircraft, May 1919 Diagram of the sixth, and final, leg of the flight of the NC-4 aircraft, from Lisbon, Portugal, to Plymouth, England, during 30-31 May 1919. It also shows the positions of the ten U.S. Navy destroyers stationed along the way. Printed by the Matthews-Northrup Works, Buffalo, New York. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 142KB; 485 x 925 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 57140 USS Tarbell (Destroyer # 142), at left Steaming through the Gaillard Cut, during the Pacific Fleet's passage through the Panama Canal, 24 July 1919. USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77) is immediately ahead of Tarbell. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 108KB; 740 x 545 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 98029 "Old Hen and Chickens" USS Kanawha (AO-1) with thirteen destroyers alongside, off San Diego, California, during the early 1920s. Photographed by Bunnell, 414 E Street, San Diego. Ships present are identified in Photo # NH 98029 (complete caption). Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold, USN. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 465 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 103140 USS Woolsey (DD-77) Sinking after colliding with S.S. Steel Inventor on 26 February 1921. Photographed by D. Blumenthal. The original image was printed on postal card ("AZO") stock. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 480 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 100438 USS Woolsey (Destroyer # 77) Launching, at the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, 17 September 1918. Note that she has steam up in at least one boiler, and is painted in "dazzle" camouflage. She was commissioned less than two week later. Courtesy of Ted Stone, 1985. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 85KB; 580 x 765 pixels |
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 13 June 2003
New image added 7 October 2005