Figure 1: USS Allen (DD-66) in Bantry Bay, Ireland, 1918. Note her "dazzle" camouflage. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Allen (DD-66) moored with other US Navy destroyers at Queenstown, Ireland, 1918. Note Allen's "dazzle" camouflage scheme. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: "A Fast Convoy." Oil painting by Burnell Poole depicting USS Allen (DD-66) escorting USS Leviathan in the War Zone, 1918. The original painting measures 60" x 33." Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, DC. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: View on board USS Allen (DD-66), looking aft along the starboard side from her bridge wing, while she was at sea in 1918. Several other destroyers are in the distance. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: “US Navy destroyers at Queenstown, Ireland, 1918.” Pen and ink drawing by Burnell Poole. The ship at left is USS Allen (DD-66). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Allen (DD-66) underway off Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, 17 December 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Allen (DD-66) off Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, 17 December 1942. Halftone reproduction, published by the Division of Naval Intelligence in June 1943 for ship recognition purposes. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Allen (DD-66) underway off Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii, 17 December 1942. Note how close Allen’s main deck is to the water. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Allen (DD-66) underway off Oahu, 1944. Note that she has retained her 4-inch guns, has six depth-charge projectors aft, torpedo tubes, an air search radar at her foremast, and has her hull number (66) painted on the forecastle deck. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Allen (DD-66) after World War II awaiting disposal. Her forward 4-inch gun has been removed with only the shield and mount remaining. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after William Henry Allen, a US Navy hero from the War of 1812, USS Allen (DD-66) was a 1,071-ton Sampson class destroyer built by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and was commissioned on 24 January 1917. The ship was approximately 315 feet long and 29 feet wide, had a top speed of 30 knots, and had a crew of 130 officers and men. Allen was armed with four 4-inch guns, two 1-pounders, twelve 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.
Allen initially patrolled off America’s east coast and in the Caribbean and then was assigned to escort duties after the United States entered World War I in April 1917. In June 1917, Allen escorted a troop convoy across the Atlantic and then was based at Queenstown, Ireland. While based there, Allen escorted convoys and went on anti-submarine patrols off the western coasts of Britain and France. Allen remained at Queenstown until the end of the war on 11 November 1918 and in December she assisted in escorting the transport George Washington, which was carrying President Woodrow Wilson to Brest, France. A few weeks later, Allen returned to the United States.
In 1919, Allen resumed her patrol duties in the western Atlantic and in the West Indies. Allen was decommissioned in June 1922 but was re-commissioned three years later as a Naval Reserve training ship based at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Allen was decommissioned once again in March 1928 and remained that way for the next twelve years.
After World War II began in Europe in September 1939, the US Navy brought back into service many old destroyers, Allen being one of them. She was re-commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 23 August 1940. After a short stay on the east coast, Allen was transferred to the Pacific Fleet and was attached to Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 80. Allen was ordered to steam to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where she was assigned to various patrol and escort duties. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941, Allen was moored in the East Loch to the northeast of Ford Island and next to the hospital ship Solace (AH-5). Allen’s gunners claimed to have assisted in shooting down three Japanese aircraft. After the attack, Allen escorted ships between the Hawaiian Islands and searched the general vicinity for enemy submarines. For the remainder of World War II, the elderly destroyer was given numerous patrol and escort duties around the Hawaiian Islands. She also made occasional round-trip voyages to America’s west coast. In September 1945, USS Allen was sent from Hawaii to Philadelphia, where she was decommissioned for the last time on 15 October. After serving in two World Wars, the ship eventually was sold for scrapping on 26 September 1946.
