USS Ramsay (DD-124) was a in the United States Navy during World War I, reclassified as DM-16 during World War II and again reclassified as AG-98. She was the first ship named for Rear Admiral Francis Ramsay. Construction and commissioning Ramsay was laid down on 21 December 1917 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. The ship was launched on 8 June 1918, sponsored by Miss Mary Virginia Ramsay, granddaughter of Rear Admiral Ramsay. The destroyer was commissioned on 15 February 1919. Service history Assigned to Division 12, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, Ramsay completed shakedown training off Cuba in March, participated in fleet maneuvers in early April, and then sailed for New York City. She got underway in May for the Azores to act as a guide and weather observer for the NC transatlantic flights. Steaming between the Azores and Portugal from 16 May to 25 May, she returned to the United States on 6 June. For the next month she conducted tactical exercises along the East Coast and, on 6 July, put into Norfolk to prepare for transfer to the Pacific. Ramsay arrived at San Diego on 7 August and, after overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, commenced two years of operations with Destroyer Force, Pacific. On 17 July 1920 she was designated DD-124. In early 1922, she prepared for inactivation and, on 30 June 1922, she was decommissioned and berthed at San Diego as a unit of the Reserve Fleet. Recommissioned eight years later, on 2 June 1930, she was reclassified as a light minelayer, redesignated DM-16 on 13 June, and homeported at Pearl Harbor. Converted at the Navy Yard there, she operated with Minecraft, Battle Force, primarily in the Hawaiian area until 1937 when she returned to San Diego for her second inactivation and was decommissioned on 14 December 1937. Recommissioned on 25 September 1939, she joined MinDiv 5, Minecraft, Battle Force, and for the next year conducted patrols engaged in gunnery drills and landing exercises, and trained naval reservists along the Pacific coast. World War II On 10 December 1940, Ramsay returned to Pearl Harbor and, throughout the next year, operated with Mine Divisions 5 and 2. Moored at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941, she fired her guns in combat for the first time at carrier-based planes delivering Japan's declaration of war on the United States. Underway