USS Case (DD-370)

Born in Newburgh, N.Y., 3 February 1812, Augustus Ludlow Case was appointed midshipman in 1828 and attained the rank of rear admiral 24 May 1872. He participated in the Wilkes Expedition of 1837-42 which explored the South Seas and discovered the Antarctic Continent; the Mexican War, 1846-48, when with 25 men he held the town of Palisada against the Mexican cavalry for two weeks to block the escape of General Santa Ana; and the Paraguay Expedition of 1859. In the Civil War he was Fleet Captain of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron in its capture of Forts Clark and Hatteras in August 1861, and commanded Iroquois in the blockade of New Inlet, N.C. From 1869 to 1873 he was Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, and from 1873 to 1875, commanded the European Squadron and the combined European, North and South Atlantic Fleet assembled at Key West in 1874. Retired in 1875, Admiral Case died in Washington 16 February 1893.

Case (DD-370) was launched 14 September 1935 by Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Mass.; sponsored by Miss M. R. Case; commissioned 15 September 1936, Commander J. S. Roberts in command; and reported to the Battle Force, later the Pacific Fleet.

Case joined in fleet problems in the Hawaiian area, and in 1938, served as school ship at San Diego. From this, her home port, she carried midshipmen on an Alaskan cruise in summer 1939, and in April 1940 returned to Pearl Harbor to take part in a fleet problem which found her sailing to Midway, Johnston, and Palmyra Islands. Between February and April 1941, she cruised to Samoa, Tahiti, and Auckland, N.Z.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Case II (DD-370)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.