 O 'Brien was authorized in March 1913 as the lead ship of the O 'Brien class , which was an improved version of the Cassin @-@ class destroyers authorized in 1911 . Construction of the vessel was awarded to William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia which laid down her keel on 8 September 1913 . On 20 July 1914 , O 'Brien was launched by sponsor Miss Marcia Bradbury Campbell , great @-@ great @-@ granddaughter of Gideon O 'Brien , one of the ship 's <unk> . Gideon and his four brothers — John , William , Dennis , and Joseph — were crewmen aboard sloop Unity , under the command of their brother Jeremiah O 'Brien , when that vessel captured HMS <unk> on 12 June 1775 during the American Revolutionary War ; the destroyer O 'Brien was named after all six brothers , and was the second US Navy vessel named in their honor . As built , the destroyer was 305 ft 3 in ( 93 @.@ 04 m ) in length , 31 ft 1 in ( 9 @.@ 47 m ) abeam , and drew 9 ft 6 in ( 2 @.@ 90 m ) . The ship had a standard displacement of 1 @,@ 050 long tons ( 1 @,@ 070 t ) and displaced 1 @,@ 171 long tons ( 1 @,@ 190 t ) when fully loaded . 
