USS Overton (DD-239/APD–23) was a United States Navy Clemson-class destroyer and high-speed transport that saw service during World War II. Namesake Macon C. Overton was born on 18 August 1890 in Union Point, Georgia. Captain Overton served in the United States Marine Corps in World War I and was awarded the Croix de Guerre with silver star and palm for action in the Bois de Belleau (13 June 1918) and the Distinguished Service Cross for action near Mont Blanc (2–10 October 1918). He was mortally wounded on 1 November 1918 while guiding a tank against an enemy position at St. George. He was posthumously awarded an oak leaf cluster to his Distinguished Service Cross. Construction and commissioning Overton was laid down 30 October 1918 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was named prior to Ceremonial ship launching, and was launched on 10 July 1919, sponsored by Mrs. Margaret C. Overton, mother of Captain Overton. She was commissioned on 30 June 1920. Service history Interwar period Writing to his wife Effie on 5 July 1920, just five days after Overton was commissioned, Murray declared that he was "training a new crew of only three of which have ever been on a destroyer before". Murray reported that he had lost in the previous three weeks and stated, "this is the only ship that has gone in with only one officer - the rest have from four to eight - but I expect more officers any day... so you see it took me only a little over three years to get a battle ship [sic] of my own." Following shakedown, Overton operated with the 3rd Destroyer Squadron and later with the 5th Destroyer Squadron off the East Coast of the United States. While with the 5th Destroyer Squadron in early September 1920, she assisted in the rescue of the crew of the submarine . She then was assigned to the 2nd Destroyer Squadron and ordered to European waters. Departing New York City on 14 September 1920, she joined the Black Sea Detachment at Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire on 5 October 1920. For the next year and a half she performed quasi-diplomatic and humanitarian roles necessitated by the aftermath of World War I. Cruising regularly to Caucasian, Romanian, and Ottoman Black Sea ports, she also steamed into the Mediterranean to visit Levantine cities. She distributed relief supplies, provided transportation and communication services,