USS Tillman (DD-135) - United States Navy

United States Navy

Tillman was laid down on 29 July 1918 by the Charleston Navy Yard; launched on 7 July 1919; sponsored by Miss Mary Y. Tillman the granddaughter of Senator Tillman; re-classified DD-135 on 17 July 1920, during the Navy-wide assignment of alphanumeric hull numbers; and commissioned on 10 April 1921, Lieutenant Louis R. Vail in command.

Following shakedown, Tillman operated out of Charleston Navy Yard with Division 20, Squadron 9, Destroyer Flotilla 1, Atlantic Fleet, until the summer of 1921. Operating with half of her normal complement by the following winter, the destroyer trained and cruised with Division 33, Squadron 8, Atlantic Fleet Destroyer Squadrons into the spring of 1922. Soon thereafter, Tillman was decommissioned on 3 July 1922 and laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

After almost eight years of inactivity, Tillman was placed back in commission at Philadelphia on 1 May 1930, Lieutenant Commander Alfred Y. Lanphier in command. Returning to Charleston, the destroyer operated with Division 23, Squadron 7, of the Scouting Fleet Destroyer Squadrons. Transferred to Division 48 by 1 January 1931, Tillman conducted training cruises for naval reserve trainees and NROTC midshipmen until late in the spring of 1933, when she shifted to Boston to train reservists and NROTC midshipmen of the 1st Naval District.

As part of the Scouting Fleet Training Squadron, Tillman eventually returned to The Charleston Navy Yard and alternated tours of active training duty with periods moored in "rotating reserve." On 1 January 1934, she returned to full-time active duty with the Training Squadron and resumed training cruises. The destroyer continued to alternate periods in the rotating reserve with assignments to training duty into the late 1930s. Later assigned to Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 29 of Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 10, she worked out of Charleston and Boston, training reservists and NROTC midshipmen, participating in Fleet landing exercises in the Caribbean; conducting battle practices and drills; and showing the flag at ports along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean. She continued this schedule until she was again decommissioned on 15 June 1939.

Two and one-half months later, German forces attacked Poland, triggering World War II in Europe. Early in the spring of 1940, the tide turned against the Allies, as Germany launched a devastatingly successful blitzkrieg. In addition, German U-boats terrorized transatlantic convoys and took heavy tolls of merchantmen and escorts alike. By summer, Britain was the last country in Europe still at war with Hitler, with only the English Channel between her and the Germans.

The Royal Navy's destroyer forces had taken a bad beating in the Atlantic, as well as in the Norwegian debacle and the evacuation of Dunkirk. At this point, the newly installed prime minister, Winston Churchill, appealed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt for help. Accordingly, on 23 July 1940, the two leaders agreed on a "destroyers for bases" exchange, whereby the United States would transfer 50 overaged flush-decked destroyers to the British in return for 99-year leases on sites for strategic bases in the Western Hemisphere.

As one of the 50 ships, Tillman recommissioned at Philadelphia on 24 August 1940. About three months later, she moved up the coast to Halifax (former city), Nova Scotia, the transfer point for the "50 ships that saved the world." On 21 November 1940, she arrived at that port with the remainder of her division, DesDiv 72, the last group of ships to be turned over to the Royal and Royal Canadian Navies.