USS Wickes (DD-75)

USS Wickes (DD-75)
Ship name	USS Wickes (DD-75)
Ship namesake	Lamont H. Wickes
Ship builder	Bath Iron Works
Ship launched	1918
Ship commissioned	1918
Ship decommissioned	1922
Ship identification	DD-75
Ship reclassified	Transferred to Royal Navy 1940

USS Wickes (DD-75) was a Wickes-class destroyer of the United States Navy commissioned in 1918 that served in World War I convoy escort and antisubmarine operations before entering reserve in the interwar period and being transferred to the Royal Navy in 1940 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement as HMS Montgomery. The ship participated in Atlantic escort duties and coastal patrols during the early years of World War II and was decommissioned and scrapped after wartime service.

Design and construction

Wickes was one of the mass-produced Wickes-class destroyer series designed during the Naval Appropriations Act (1916) expansion to counter German Kaiserliche Marine submarine threats and to supplement the Atlantic Fleet. Built by Bath Iron Works in Maine, her design emphasized high speed, two-shaft turbines, and four boilers similar to other contemporaneous designs from William Cramp & Sons and Union Iron Works. The class reflected lessons from the Russo-Japanese War and innovations associated with designers like Admiral Bradley A. Fiske and naval architects linked to the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Wickes carried four 4-inch guns and twelve torpedo tubes, consistent with the Destroyers Act procurement standard and the Naval Act of 1916 objectives for fleet screening and antisurface attack.

Service history

After commissioning, Wickes joined units operating from New York City and made transatlantic voyages to support convoys bound for Queenstown, Ireland and Brest, France. Her commanders and crews were drawn from officers educated at the United States Naval Academy and trained in tactical doctrines influenced by figures like Admiral William S. Sims and Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman. Wickes operated alongside destroyers such as USS Porter (DD-59), USS Jacob Jones (DD-61), and USS Allen (DD-66) during multinational operations that coordinated with Royal Navy forces and the French Navy.

World War I operations

Assigned to Atlantic convoy escort and antisubmarine patrols, Wickes escorted troopships and merchant convoys between Newport News, Virginia, Liverpool, and French ports including Brest and Saint-Nazaire. Engagements involved coordination with U-boat hunting tactics developed by Allied Naval Command and anti-submarine measures promoted by Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly and Rear Admiral John de Robeck. Wickes conducted depth charge attacks, visual searches, and zig-zag escort patterns informed by doctrine from the Admiralty and the United States Navy Bureau of Ordnance. On escort missions she protected convoys that included transports tied to operations supporting the American Expeditionary Forces commanded by General John J. Pershing and shipments to the British Expeditionary Force.

Interwar period and transfer to Royal Navy

Following Armistice of 11 November 1918 operations, Wickes returned to peacetime patrols and training duties along the Eastern Seaboard and in the Caribbean Sea, participating in exercises with the Atlantic Fleet and port visits to Havana, Bermuda, and Norfolk, Virginia. Budget constraints under postwar Congressional appropriations and naval treaties like the Washington Naval Treaty influenced reductions; Wickes was placed in reserve at Philadelphia Navy Yard in the 1920s. With the outbreak of World War II in Europe and strategic negotiations between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, Wickes was selected under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement to transfer to the Royal Navy to augment Battle of the Atlantic escort forces.

Service as HMS Montgomery

Renamed HMS Montgomery in Royal Navy service, she joined escort groups out of Liverpool and Greenock to protect convoys in the Western Approaches and the North Atlantic, operating with escorts including HMS Enterprise (D52), HMS Faulknor (G12), and allied corvettes like HMS Bluebell (K80). Montgomery performed anti-submarine patrols cooperating with the Western Approaches Command and used tactics informed by figures such as Admiral Sir Percy Noble and Captain Gilbert O. Stephenson. Her missions included defending convoys participating in operations supporting the Norwegian Campaign, supply runs to Iceland, and coordination with Royal Canadian Navy escort groups based at Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Montgomery underwent refits influenced by conversion programs similar to work done on ships like HMS Campbell (D48) to improve fuel endurance and radar/ASDIC installations pioneered by the Admiralty Research Establishment.

Decommissioning and fate

As newer escort designs like the Flower-class corvette and Town-class destroyer replacements entered service, maintenance of older ex-US destroyers became burdensome. HMS Montgomery was assessed alongside vessels such as HMS Hamilton (D98) and found less economical to operate; she was withdrawn from front-line duties and placed into reserve before being decommissioned. Postwar disposition followed patterns seen with other transferred destroyers — she was sold for scrap and broken up, concluding a service life that spanned assignments tied to both United States Navy and Royal Navy strategic needs.

Legacy and honors

Wickes’ service exemplifies cooperation between United States and United Kingdom naval forces across both world wars and is connected to naval policies enacted during the administrations of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Her class influenced later destroyer development, informing designs like the Clemson-class destroyer and concepts later realized in Fletcher-class destroyer advancements. Personnel who served aboard were eligible for medals tied to campaigns and services recognized by the United States Congress and British Honours System, reflecting participation in World War I convoys and World War II Atlantic escorts. The ship’s transfer under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement remains a cited example in studies of Anglo-American cooperation leading up to the Lend-Lease Act and the broader alliance that culminated at conferences such as Casablanca Conference and Tehran Conference.

Category:Wickes-class destroyers Category:Ships built in Bath, Maine Category:World War I destroyers of the United States Category:Town-class destroyers of the Royal Navy