USS McDermut (DD-262)

The first USS McDermut (DD-262) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was named for David McDermut.

McDermut was laid down 20 April 1918 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Squantum, Massachusetts; launched 6 August 1918; sponsored by Mrs. Eugene G. Grace; and commissioned 27 March 1919, Commander Chester L. Hand in command.

Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, McDermut departed Boston, Massachusetts 28 May for Brest, France. She returned to the east coast 24 July only to sail for the west coast in the fall, arriving at San Diego, California the day before Christmas. During the next 8 and a half years, with few exceptions, she operated in the eastern Pacific, steaming along the coast from Panama to Canada, and among the Hawaiian Islands.

In 1924, she had a small part in the silent film, "The Navigator", starring Buster Keaton and Kathryn McGuire.

In 1924 and 1927 she transited the Panama Canal for abbreviated duties in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico and in 1925 took part in a good will visit to Samoa, Australia, and New Zealand. On 22 March 1927 McDermut, returning from a cruise to Panama, arrived at the San Diego Destroyer Base, where she decommissioned 22 May 1929. Struck from the Naval Register 11 November 1931, she was scrapped and sold, 25 February 1932, in accordance with the terms of the London Treaty for Naval Disarmament.

See also