USS Parker (Destroyer No. 48/DD-48) was an built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of Foxhall A. Parker, Jr., a U.S. Navy officer who served in the American Civil War, and as Superintendent of United States Naval Academy. Parker was laid down by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia in March 1912 and launched in February 1913. The ship was a little more than in length, just over abeam, and had a standard displacement of . She was armed with four guns and had eight 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. Parker was powered by a pair of steam turbines that propelled her at up to . After her January 1914 commissioning, she assisted her sister ship when that ship suffered an explosion in one of her fire rooms in April. After the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, Parker served as an escort for the fourth group of the first American troop convoy of the war. Afterwards, she patrolled the Irish Sea out of Queenstown, Ireland. Parker rescued nine survivors of a torpedoed British hospital ship in February 1918, and her crew received accolades from the British Parliament, the Admiralty, and U.S. Navy officials. Upon returning to the U.S. after the war in July 1919, Parker rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. Parker was decommissioned in June 1922. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in March 1935, and ordered scrapped in April. Design and construction Parker was authorized in March 1911 as the third of four ships of the , which was almost identical to the s authorized at the same time. Construction of the vessel — like her three sister ships — was awarded to William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia which laid down her keel on 11 March 1912. On 8 February 1913, Parker was launched by sponsor Mrs. Henry W. Hand, wife of the vice president of the Cramp shipyard. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel to be named for Foxhall A. Parker, Jr., a U.S. Navy officer who served in the American Civil War, and as Superintendent of United States Naval Academy; he was also a co-founder of the United States Naval Institute. As built, the destroyer was in length, abeam, and drew . The ship had a standard displacement of and