in action aboard during the War of 1812. As built, the destroyer was in length, abeam, and drew . The ship had a standard displacement of and displaced when fully loaded. Aylwin had two steam turbines that drove her two screw propellers, and an additional pair triple-expansion steam engines, each connected to one of the propeller shafts, for cruising purposes. Four oil-burning boilers powered the engines, which could generate , and it was hoped, move the ship at the design speed of . However, during builder's trials conducted in July 1913, Aylwin failed to reach this speed, and was withdrawn from testing. After sister ship Parker exceeded the design speed in August with a different propeller design, The Washington Post reported that Aylwins propellers would be changed to the new design. Aylwins main battery consisted of four /50 caliber Mark 9 guns, with each gun weighing in excess of . The guns fired armor-piercing projectiles at . At an elevation of 20°, the guns had a range of . Aylwin was also equipped with four twin torpedo tubes. Pre-World War I Aylwin was commissioned into the U.S. Navy on 17 January 1914, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Leigh C. Palmer, the former naval aide of U.S. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. Following a short cruise to Cuba, Aylwin conducted operations off the North Carolina coast in April. On 6 April, she and sister ships and were exercising off the North Carolina coast, about off the Diamond Shoals lightship. An explosion ripped through the forward fire room on Aylwin, injuring three men. Benham loaded the three wounded sailors and sped to the naval hospital at Norfolk, Virginia, while Parker took on the remainder of Aylwins crew. One of the injured men died on Benham before landfall was made in Virginia; another died a short time later. The crews of all three destroyers raised $250 to help defray funeral expenses for the widow of one of the men. Aylwin remained afloat but, unmanned, was towed into Norfolk by Parker and U.S. Navy tug , arriving on 7 April. According to a report in The Washington Post, Aylwin made it to port with only five hours of buoyancy to spare. The report described the fore deck of the ship as "badly rent and torn up" and noted that two of the destroyer's four stacks were knocked out of alignment by the