USS O'Brien (DD-51)

USS O'Brien, during trials in 1915.
History
United States
Name	O'Brien
Namesake	Captain Jeremiah O'Brien of the Massachusetts Naval Militia and his five brothers.
Ordered	March 1913[4]
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia[1]
Cost	$863,984.51 (hull and machinery)[2]
Yard number	404[3]
Laid down	8 September 1913[5]
Launched	20 July 1914[1]
Sponsored by	Miss Marcia Bradbury Campbell[1]
Commissioned	22 May 1915[5]
Decommissioned	5 June 1922[1]
Stricken	8 March 1935[5]
Identification	Hull symbol:DD-51 Code letters:NIV
Fate	Sold on 23 April 1935 and scrapped[1]
General characteristics
Class and type	O'Brien-class destroyer
Displacement	1,050 long tons (1,070 t)[5] 1,171 long tons (1,190 t) fully loaded[1]
Length	305 ft 3 in (93.04 m)[5]
Beam	31 ft 1 in (9.47 m)[5]
Draft	9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) (mean)[6] 10 ft 7 in (3.23 m) max[5]
Installed power	4 × White-Forster boilers 17,000 shp (13,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × Zoelly direct-drive steam turbines 2 × screw propellers[4]
Speed	29 kn (33 mph; 54 km/h)[1] 29.17 kn (33.57 mph; 54.02 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[6]
Complement	5 officers 96 enlisted[7]
Armament	4 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 caliber guns 8 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (4 × 2)

USS O'Brien (Destroyer No. 51/DD-51) was the lead ship of O'Brien-class destroyers built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the second US Navy vessel named in honor of Jeremiah O'Brien and his five brothers Gideon, John, William, Dennis, and Joseph who, together on the sloop Unity, captured a British warship during the American Revolutionary War.

O'Brien was laid down by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia in September 1913 and launched in July 1914.

After her May 1915 commissioning, O'Brien sailed off the east coast and in the Caribbean. She was one of seventeen destroyers sent out to rescue survivors from five victims of German submarine U-53 off the Lightship Nantucket in October 1916. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, O'Brien was sent overseas to patrol the Irish Sea out of Queenstown, Ireland.

After returning to the United States in January 1919, O'Brien revisited European waters in May to serve as one of the picket ships for the NC-type seaplanes in the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic. O'Brien was decommissioned at Philadelphia in June 1922. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in March 1935 and sold for scrapping in April.