Namesake Joseph Israel Commissioned 13 September 1918 Reclassified 17 July 1920, DM-3 Construction started 26 January 1918 Builder Fore River Shipyard | Laid down 26 January 1918 Decommissioned 7 July 1922 Struck 1 December 1936 Launched 22 June 1918 | |
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The first USS Israel (DD-98) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and the years following. She was named in honor of Joseph Israel.
History
Israel was launched 22 June 1918 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts; sponsored by Miss Dorothy Brown; and commissioned 13 September 1918, Lt. Comdr. George N. Barker in command.
Following shakedown out of Boston, Israel rendezvoused with South Carolina at Newport, Rhode Island on 24 September 1918, and performed escort duty on the East Coast as a unit of the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet. She departed New York 13 October with a convoy, and arrived at Gibraltar 6 November, via the Azores and Port Leixoes, Portugal. Having escorted the Brazilian Detachment to Gibraltar Harbor 9 November, Israel arrived at Venice 18 November and joined the Eastern Mediterranean Forces. She operated out of Venice and Split as a station ship transporting supplies and personnel until 12 July 1919 when she departed Villefranche, France, via Gibraltar and the Azores, arriving Boston 24 July.
While undergoing overhaul at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Israel was fitted out as a light minelayer and her classification changed 17 July 1920 to DM-3.
Sailing from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 4 March 1921, Israel cruised along the East Coast until 5 July when she joined Mine Squadron 1, Atlantic Fleet, at Gloucester, Massachusetts. During the remainder of the year she engaged in mining practice and exercises on the East Coast; and from January to April 1922, participated in important fleet exercises based at Guantanamo Bay and Culebra, Puerto Rico.
Israel arrived in Philadelphia 15 May 1922 and decommissioned there 7 July. Remaining inactive during the following years, she was reduced to a hulk in 1936 in accordance with the London Treaty. Her name was struck from the Navy List 25 January 1937, and she was sold to the Union Shipbuilding Company, Baltimore, Maryland, on 18 April 1939.
As of 2008, no other ships in the United States Navy have gone by this name.