Cummings



(DD-44: dp. 1,020; 1. 305'3"; b. 31'2"; dr. 9'3"; s. 29 k.; cpl. 98; a. 3 4", 8 18" tt.; cl. (Cassin)


	The first Cummings (DD-44) was launched 6 August 1913 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; sponsored 
by Mrs. H. Beates, Jr., niece of Lieutenant Commander Cummings; and commissioned 19 September 1913, 
Lieutenant Commander A. Crenshaw in command.


	Departing Boston in November 1913, Cummings cruised along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean 
until the following June, when based at Newport, she joined the Neutrality Patrol and cruised off the coast until 
the United States entered into World War I.


	Arriving at New York Navy Yard 12 May 1917 to be outfitted for foreign service, Cummings sailed 16 
May reaching the Destroyer Base, Queenstown, Ireland, 26 May. She served in the cross-channel escort 
service under Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, and also conducted 
antisubmarine patrols off the southern Irish coast, making contact in 14 encounters. Continuing to serve on 
escort assignments off the coast of France after the war, she was one of the escort for George Washington, 
carrying President Wilson to Brest, France.


	Cummings departed French waters 16 December 1918 and from 6 February to 9 April 1919 she joined 
in destroyer maneuvers and gunnery exercises at Guantanamo Bay. During July and August she operated off 
Newport, then was in reserve at Philadelphia between August 1919 and March 1921. She returned to operations 
off the east coast with the Fleet until placed out of commission at Philadelphia 23 June 1922. Transferred to the 
U.S. Treasury Department for the Coast Guard 6 June 1924, Cummings was returned to the Navy 23 May 1932 
and sold 22 August 1934 for scrapping in accordance with the London Treaty for the limitation and reduction of 
naval armaments.