Commissioned 1 February 1918 Builder Brooklyn Navy Yard | Fate Sold December 1919 | |
 | ||
Name USS Submarine Chaser No. 38 (1917-1919)
USS SC-38 (retrospectively since 1920) Class and type SC-1-class submarine chaser Displacement 77 tons normal
85 tons full load Length 110 ft (34 m) overall
105 ft (32 m) between perpendiculars | ||
USS SC-38, during her service life known as USS Submarine Chaser No. 38 or USS S.C. 38, was an SC-1-class submarine chaser built for the United States Navy during World War I.
SC-38 was a wooden-hulled 110-foot (34 m) submarine chaser built at the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York. She was commissioned on 1 February 1918 as USS Submarine Chaser No. 38, abbreviated at the time as USS S.C. 38.
In 1919, Submarine Chaser No. 38 participated in North Sea minesweeping operations to clear the North Sea Mine Barrage. During these operations, she struck a mine on 4 September 1919 and was damaged, but suffered no casualties. She was salvaged, and the Navy sold her to Thomas Lee of Ipswich, England, in December 1919.
The U.S. Navy adopted its modern hull number system on 17 July 1920, after Submarine Chaser No. 38 had left Navy service. Had she remained in Navy service at that date, she would have been classified as SC-38 and her name would have been shortened to USS SC-38, and she now is referred to retrospectively by this name.