USS Meredith (DD-165) was a built for the United States Navy during World War I. She was the first destroyer in the United States Navy that named for a marine. Description The Wickes class was an improved and faster version of the preceding . Two different designs were prepared to the same specification that mainly differed in the turbines and boilers used. The ships built to the Bethlehem Steel design, built in the Fore River and Union Iron Works shipyards, mostly used Yarrow boilers that deteriorated badly during service and were mostly scrapped during the 1930s. The ships displaced at standard load and at deep load. They had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . They had a crew of 6 officers and 108 enlisted men. Performance differed radically between the ships of the class, often due to poor workmanship. The Wickes class was powered by two steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by four water-tube boilers. The turbines were designed to produce a total of intended to reach a speed of . The ships carried of fuel oil which was intended gave them a range of at . The ships were armed with four 4-inch (102 mm) guns in single mounts and were fitted with two 1-pounder guns for anti-aircraft defense. Their primary weapon, though, was their torpedo battery of a dozen 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes in four triple mounts. In many ships a shortage of 1-pounders caused them to be replaced by 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft (AA) guns. They also carried a pair of depth charge rails. A "Y-gun" depth charge thrower was added to many ships. Construction and career Meredith, named for Jonathan Meredith, was laid down 26 June 1918 by Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts; launched 22 September 1918; sponsored by Mrs. William F. Meredith, wife of the great-grandnephew of Sergeant Meredith; and commissioned at Boston 29 January 1919, Commander H. H. Michaels in command. Assigned to Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, Meredith proceeded to Newport, Rhode Island, for torpedoes and 18 February began a shakedown cruise to Cuba. However, she received orders 22 February to join five other destroyers as escort to George Washington, returning President Woodrow Wilson from France to Boston. On 26 February, she resumed her shakedown. Meredith departed New York 1 May for Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, to serve as a