USS Reid (DD-369)

The third Reid (DD-369) was laid down on 25 June 1934 at Kearny, N.J., by Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; launched on 11 January 1936, and sponsored by Mrs. Beatrice (Reid) Power, a direct descendant of Capt. Samuel C. Reid.

Commissioned on 2 November 1936 at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., Cmdr. Robert B. Carney in command, Reid went into dry dock on 6 November and remained on keel blocks through the end of the month, her crew enjoying Thanksgiving ashore in Brooklyn. On 7 December, the destroyer steamed to the vicinity of Ambrose Light, Lower New York Bay, in order to conduct some “shakedown tests.” She returned to New York on 10 December, and moored port side to Pier D, Berth 4. Reid steamed to Newport R.I., on 14 December, and arrived there early the next morning. At Newport, the ship took on a load of torpedoes and then at approximately 1400 got underway for Yorktown, Va. She arrived later that evening and then headed back to New York, arriving there just before midnight on 16 December.

Reid remained at her moorings in New York through Christmas, and then just after the start of the New Year, on 4 January 1937, she got underway for her first major voyage, bound for the Mediterranean Sea. The destroyer first made her way to Yorktown, arriving there on 5 January and then, at 1235 that same day, shaped a course for Funchal, Madeira. Reid arrived at Funchal on 14 January and shortly thereafter Cmdr. Carney met with both the governor and the military commandant of Madeira.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Reid III (DD-369)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.