most notably on 20 October 1918 when collided with Balch during convoy escort operations. The collision knocked Balchs port depth charge overboard, but Boatswain's Mate Second Class Albert Cerveny, Coxswain Frank Sekowski, and Gunner's Mate Second Class Frank H. Sumner—all of whom received letters of commendation from the US Navy—recognized that a collision was imminent and set the depth charges to "safe". Balch did suffer steering gear damage which required two weeks of repair at Queenstown. Then, on 5 November, while escorting a convoy in the English Channel, the Balch helped American destroyer rescue 29 survivors of the foundering merchant ship Dipton, returning the survivors to Queenstown. Inter-war period Following the signing of the Armistice on 11 November which ended all fighting, Balch received orders to sail for home and she departed Ireland on 16 November. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, via Ponta Delgada, Azores, on 1 January 1919 and was placed in ordinary. Returned to commission in early April, the destroyer sailed to the West Indies for three weeks of maneuvers out of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Balch then returned to Norfolk on 28 April for an overhaul. In July 1920, she was assigned the hull code of DD-50 under the US Navy's alphanumeric classification system. Postwar funding shortages kept the destroyer in port until late 1921, when Balch briefly cruised with the Torpedo Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, before financial considerations led to her inactivation. Balch was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 20 June 1922. On 1 November 1933, she dropped the name Balch to free it for a new destroyer of the same name, becoming known only as DD-50. The ship was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 March 1935, and, on 23 April, was ordered scrapped at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. References Notes Bibliography External links Aylwin-class destroyers Ships built by William Cramp & Sons 1912 ships World War I destroyers of the United States