USS Allen (DD-66)

Destroyer No. 66 was laid down on 10 May 1915 at Bath, Maine, by Bath Iron Works; named Allen on 9 September 1915; launched on 5 December 1915; sponsored by Miss Dorothea Dix Allen and Miss Harriet Allen Butler, great grand-nieces of Lieutenant Henry Allen; delivered to the Navy at the Boston [Mass.] Navy Yard on 23 January 1917, and commissioned on 24 January 1917, Lt. Cmdr. Samuel W. Bryant in command.

Allen fitted out at the Boston Navy Yard, and on 1 February 1917 was assigned to the Ninth Division, Third Flotilla, Destroyer Squadron, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. On 11 February, she cleared the Boston Navy Yard for the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, R.I., where she took on board torpedoes and ordnance supplies. One week later, she left for Cuba to join the fleet for winter exercises. There she operated until 23 March when she sailed for Hampton Roads, Va., arriving on 27 March. She left Hampton Roads to escort Maine (Battleship No. 10) to New York City on 29 March, returning the following day. On 3 April, Allen steamed past anti-submarine nets into the York River, where she awaited hostilities with the bulk of the Destroyer Force and the Atlantic Fleet.

Following the U.S. declaration of war on 6 April 1917, Allen operated in Chesapeake Bay on various missions until 21 April. She steamed from the York River on 22 April with a cruiser and four other destroyers to meet French cruisers Lorraine and Admiral Aube carrying French military and civilian officials to the U.S. to discuss naval cooperation with American officials. After arriving at Hampton Roads at 0755 on 24 April, she got underway again at 2110 to escort the converted yacht Mayflower to Washington D.C.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Allen II (Destroyer No. 66)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.