Lewin of Greenwich Naval History & Forum

Mahan Class Destroyer USS Drayton pictured off Mare Island Navy Yard on June 28th 1944.

Mahan Class Destroyer USS Downes pictured departing Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, after completion on March 1st 1937.

Mahan Class Destroyer USS Drayton pictured on builder's speed trials off Maine in July 1936.

Mahan Class Destroyer USS Dunlap pictured firing Mark XV 21 inch test torpedoes during exercises south of San Diego, July 3rd 1942.

Mahan Class Destroyer USS Lamson pictured post refit at Mare Island Navy Yard on May 24th 1944....She was sunk in Test Able, the atomic explosion at Bikini Atoll on July 2nd 1946.

Mahan Class Destroyer USS Shaw pictured in drydock at Mare Island Navy Yard, with her new bow fitted, replacing the temporary fitting at Pearl Harbor for the trip east.

Mahan Class Destroyer USS Tucker pictured at Mare Island Navy Yard on March 11th 1942..First assigned to the United States Battle Fleet in San Diego, Tucker operated along the West Coast and in the Hawaiian Islands. After participating in naval exercises in the Caribbean Sea, she returned to duty in Hawaii. She then went on a goodwill tour to New Zealand, returning to Hawaii and docking at Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, Tucker was undergoing an overhaul and was not attacked. Soon afterward, she began escorting convoys between the West Coast and Hawaii. Tucker was then tasked with escort duty to islands in the South Pacific. Tucker steamed out of port on August 1st 1942, escorting a cargo ship to Espiritu Santo. They entered its harbor three days later, where the Destroyer unknowingly entered a defensive minefield laid by the USN. Tucker struck at least one mine that tore her almost in two, sinking her and killing three sailors; the rest of the crew survived. The ship had steamed into the Segond Channel unaware that the Minelayers Gamble, Breese, and Tracy had laid mines at its western entrance. An investigation revealed that Tucker's captain had not been informed of the minefield.