Statterlee I DD-190

Satterlee I

(DD-190: dp. 1,215; 1. 314'5"; b. 30'11", dr. 9'4", s. 35 k.; cpl. 122; a. 4 4", 1 3" AA, 12 21" tt.; cl. Clemson )

The first Satterlee (DD-190) was laid down on 10 July 1918 by the Newport News Shipbuilding Co. Newport News, Va.; launched on 21 December 1918 sponsored by Miss Rebecca E. Satterlee, niece of Capt. Satterlee, and commissioned on 23 December 1919, Comdr. Reed M. Fawell in command.

Satterlee joined her destroyer flotilla at Manzanillo Cuba, on 27 January 1920 and conducted training in the,Caribbean until 26 April. After repairs and trials, she rejoined the flotilla at Newport, R.I., on 11 June. She was present at the America's Cup races off New York between 9 and 26 July 1920, and visited Miami from 2 to 28 August before resuming training off Newport. The destroyer joined the Atlantic Fleet at Guantanamo on 10 January 1921 and participated in fleet maneuvers until 24 April. She then resumed training and upkeep along the Atlantic coast until she was decommissioned on 11 July 1922 and placed in reserve at Philadelphia.

With war breaking out in both Europe and the Far East, Satterlee was recommissioned at Philadelphia on 18 December 1939, Lt. Comdr. H. R. Demarest in command, and assigned to duty on Neutrality Patrol. She arrived in the Caribbean on 2 February 1940 for patrol duty and training. The ship departed the Caribbean on 15 April, and underwent overhaul at Norfolk from 19 April to 5 July. She then operated along the east coast until decommissioned on 8 October 1940 Satterlee was transferred to the United Kingdom on the same day and served the Royal Navy as HMS Belmont, one of fifty old American destroyers exchanged for bases in British Colonies in the western Atlantic.

HMS Belmont was commissioned on 8 October 1940 and arrived at Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 24 October. She joined the 3d Escort Group in the Western Approaches Command and performed valuable work escorting Atlantic convoys, broken only for repairs of collision damage between March and July 1941. On 31 January 1942, Belmont was torpedoed and sunk with loss of all hands by a U-boat in the North Atlantic (42° 02'N., 57° 18'W.) while escorting a Canadian troop convoy to the United Kingdom.