USS Sumner (DD‑333) was a Clemson‑class destroyer of the United States Navy. The ship was named in honor of Lieutenant Commander Thomas W. Sumner (1800–1874), a noted American naval officer and pioneer of celestial navigation.
Construction and commissioning
The keel of Sumner was laid down in 1919 at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation’s Union Iron Works yard in San Francisco, California. She was launched in early 1920 and commissioned into service later that year.
Design
As a member of the Clemson class, Sumner shared the standard specifications of the type:
- Displacement: approximately 1,215 long tons (standard)
- Length: 314 ft 4 in (95.8 m)
- Beam: 30 ft 11 in (9.4 m)
- Draft: 9 ft 10 in (3.0 m)
- Propulsion: Two steam turbines powered by four water‑tube boilers, delivering roughly 27,000 shp for a design speed of 35 knots (65 km/h)
- Armament (as built): four 4 in/50 caliber guns, one 3 in/23 caliber anti‑aircraft gun, twelve 21‑inch torpedo tubes in four triple mounts, and depth‑charge projectors for anti‑submarine warfare
Service history
Following her commissioning, Sumner was assigned to the United States Pacific Fleet. During the 1920s she participated in routine fleet exercises, training cruises, and goodwill visits along the West Coast of North America and to ports in the Pacific basin. The destroyer also took part in annual “Fleet Problems,” the Navy’s large‑scale training maneuvers that tested tactics, logistics, and emerging technologies.
Decommissioning and fate
In accordance with the limitations imposed by the London Naval Treaty of 1930, which sought to reduce the number of obsolete destroyers, Sumner was decommissioned in 1930. She remained in reserve until being stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and sold for scrap in 1937.
Legacy
USS Sumner (DD‑333) represents the final phase of the mass‑produced Clemson‑class destroyers that served as the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s destroyer force during the inter‑war period. Though she saw no combat, her operational service contributed to the development of destroyer tactics and crew proficiency that would later be applied during World War II.