USS Twiggs (DD-127)

(Destroyer No. 127: dp. 1,306 (f.); 1. 314'4-"; b. 301l-" (wl.); dr. 9'9-" (aft); s. 35.04 k.; cpl. 122; a. 4 4', 2 3", 12 21" tt., 2 dct.; cl. Wickes )

Levi Twiggs was born in Richmond County, Ga., on 23 May 1793 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps on 10 November 1813. During the War of 1812, he saw action on board President and was captured when that frigate was taken, after a gallant defense, by a squadron of four British warships. After being imprisoned at Bermuda, he was freed when word of the Treaty of Ghent reached that island. Over two decades later, he took part in the Indian Wars in Florida and Georgia in 1836 and 1837. When the war with Mexico opened, Major Twiggs requested an active part in the fighting and was attached to the Marine Battalion which left New York in June 1847. He was felled by enemy fire as he led a storming party in the assault on Chapultepec before Mexico City on 13 September 1847.

The first Twiggs (Destroyer No. 127) was laid down on 23 January 1918 at Camden, N.J., by the New York Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 28 September 1918; sponsored by Miss Lillie S. Getchell, the granddaughter of Major Twiggs; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 28 July 1919, Comdr. Isaac C. Johnson, Jr., in command.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Twiggs I (Destroyer No. 127)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.