Figure 1: USS Lawrence (DD-250) at anchor, circa 1921. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Lawrence (DD-250) photographed during the 1920s or 1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Lawrence (DD-250) underway during the 1920s or 1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Lawrence (DD-250) in the Panama Canal, during the 1920s or 1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Lawrence (DD-250) in San Diego harbor, California, 1933. USS Eagle 11 (PE-11) is in the right background. Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Lawrence (DD-250) underway in San Diego harbor, California, 1935. Photographed from USS Dobbin (AD-3). Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Lawrence (DD-250) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 23 June 1942. Note that her after smokestack and after torpedo tubes have been removed, but she still retains 4"/50 guns. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Lawrence (DD-250) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 23 June 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Lawrence (DD-250) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 23 June 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Lawrence (DD-250) alongside a wharf at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 June 1942. This view looks forward from over the ship's after deckhouse, and shows her midships' 4"/50 guns and smokestacks. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after Captain James Lawrence (1781-1813), who was killed while commanding the frigate Chesapeake during the War of 1812, the USS Lawrence was a 1,190-ton Clemson class destroyer built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned on 18 April 1921. She was approximately 314 feet long and 31 feet wide and had a top speed of 35 knots and a crew of 101 officers and men. Lawrence was armed with four 4-inch guns, one 3-inch gun, two depth-charge tracks and 12 21-inch torpedo tubes.
Following her shakedown cruise, Lawrence was assigned to the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, and was sent to the Mediterranean in June 1922. She arrived off Constantinople on 4 July and for the next year patrolled the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Lawrence joined British, French, and Italian naval forces in assisting refugees that were displaced by both the Russian Civil War and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In September 1922, Lawrence was part of a small US naval task force off the coast of Smyrna, Turkey, and helped to evacuate hundreds of Greek refugees, saving them from almost certain death at the hands of the Turks who had recently completed a re-conquest of Asia Minor. After assisting Red Cross workers and US Food Administration officials in the region for several more months, Lawrence returned to New York on 20 October 1923.
From late 1923 until early 1931, Lawrence was assigned to the Scouting Fleet in the Atlantic and the Caribbean and made several trips through the Panama Canal to take part in naval exercises in the Pacific. Lawrence also was used as a training ship and made several cruises with the Naval Reserve. She was sent off the coast of Nicaragua in February and March 1927 during that country’s Civil War, but returned to Philadelphia later that year. Lawrence was decommissioned on 6 January 1931.
Lawrence was re-commissioned on 13 June 1932 and was sent to San Diego where she spent the next six years participating in fleet exercises and tactical training drills. She was decommissioned once again on 13 September 1938.
When war started in Europe on 1 September 1939, Lawrence was re-commissioned for the second time and joined the active fleet on 26 September 1939. For the remainder of the year, as well as for most of 1940, Lawrence patrolled the Caribbean and the Atlantic. She returned to the Pacific on 27 December 1940 and was based at San Diego. She began escorting convoys along the West Coast shortly after America entered the war on 7 December 1941 and throughout most of 1942 Lawrence escorted merchant ships from San Francisco to the Aleutian Islands. From September 1942 until the end of the war, Lawrence was based at San Francisco and was given numerous patrol and escort duties. On 31 May 1944, Lawrence rescued almost 200 men from the steamship Henry Bergh, which had gone aground in the nearby Farralon Islands.
In late August 1945, Lawrence was sent to the East Coast and her final destination was Philadelphia. She was decommissioned for the last time on 24 October 1945. Lawrence was then sold for scrapping on 1 October 1946 to the Boston Metal Company of Baltimore, Maryland.
Lawrence was one of those unusual warships that never fired a shot at an enemy but did manage to save hundreds of lives off the coasts of Turkey and the United States. She was a destroyer that was always prepared for war, but ended up getting a reputation as a rescue ship and escort. Not a bad legacy for a tough old warship.
