USS Thomas (DD-182) - As USS Thomas

As USS Thomas

Named after Clarence Crase Thomas, she was laid down on 23 March 1918 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company; launched on 4 July 1918; sponsored by Mrs. Evelyn M. Thomas, widow of Lieutenant Thomas; and commissioned on 25 April 1919, Lieutenant Commander Harry A. McClure in command.

Thomas operated off the east coast on training cruises and exercises until decommissioned at Philadelphia on 30 June 1922. During this service, she was classified DD-182 during the Navy-wide assignment of alphanumeric hull numbers on 17 July 1920. She lay in reserve in the Philadelphia Navy Yard's back channel for the next 18 years.

Recommissioned on 17 June 1940 — as the United States Navy expanded to meet the demands imposed by neutrality patrols off American coastlines — Thomas was assigned to Destroyer Division 79 of the Atlantic Squadron and operated briefly in training and exercises off the eastern seaboard until transferred to the United Kingdom under the "destroyer-for-bases" agreement. She arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 18 September 1940 as part of the second increment of the 50 flush-decked, four-piped destroyers exchanged with the British for leases on strategic base sites in the western hemisphere. After a brief familiarization period for the Royal Navy bluejackets assigned to the ship, Thomas was officially turned over to her new owners on 23 September 1940. Her name was subsequently struck from the United States Navy list on 8 January 1941.