USS Truxtun (DD-14) - Pre-World War I

Pre-World War I

Upon commissioning, Truxtun was assigned to the 2nd Torpedo Flotilla, and her commanding officer was appointed commander of the flotilla. She conducted trials out of Norfolk until 14 January 1903 and received her final acceptance on 24 April. In August, she participated in maneuvers off Frenchman Bay, Maine, in the Presidential review by Theodore Roosevelt at Oyster Bay, and in a joint Army-Navy exercise off Portland, Maine.

On 26 September, the 2nd Torpedo Flotilla became a unit of the Coast Squadron, North Atlantic Fleet. Truxtun joined that squadron in target practice off the Massachusetts coast before returning to Norfolk later that fall for repairs.

For the next four years, Truxtun operated along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. In December 1907, she and five other destroyers assembled in Hampton Roads with the battleships of the Atlantic Fleet. President Roosevelt reviewed the fleet once more and then, this "Great White Fleet" passed between Capes Charles and Henry to embark upon its famous round-the-world voyage. Truxtun escorted the fleet on the first leg of its voyage, going as far as the west coast. Along the way, she visited ports in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Panama, and Mexico. The fleet reached San Francisco in May 1908, and the destroyers were detached and reassigned to the Pacific Torpedo Fleet, an organization not administratively assigned to the Pacific Fleet. After repairs at Mare Island Navy Yard that summer, Truxtun joined her sister destroyers in a training voyage to Hawaii and Samoa. She returned to the west coast at San Diego, her new base of operations, early in December. She began her duty along the Pacific coast of North America with a voyage to Alaskan waters, visiting Seattle, Sitka, Seward, Skagway, and Juneau.

Truxtun remained in the Pacific until the summer of 1917. During the intervening period, she continued to be active with the Pacific Torpedo Fleet making cruises out of San Diego. On 25 March 1912, the Pacific Reserve Fleet was established under the command of Rear Admiral Alfred Reynolds. This organization was established in response to severe manpower shortages and was not similar in any respect to the contemporary reserve or "mothball" fleet. By 1 June, Truxtun joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet; however, she remained somewhat active, periodically putting to sea to check her machinery and to maintain herself "...in constant readiness for sea."

Her reserve status was short-lived. She was placed back in full commission on 12 October and resumed normal activity along the coast. On two occasions, in the summer of 1914 and again in the summer of 1916, the torpedo boat destroyer steamed to Mexican waters to protect American interests during the series of political convulsions that plagued that nation during the second decade of the twentieth century. By July 1916, she had returned to semi-inactivity as a unit of the reserve division of the Coast Torpedo Force — later re-designated Division 2 (Reserve), Coast Torpedo Force. As before, however, she conducted sporadic cruises along the California coast to maintain herself in a state of readiness.