On 1 January 1917, before there was expectation that the United States would participate in the Great War under way in Europe, the Atlantic Fleet was organized as a Battleship Force (with no destroyers attached), a Patrol Force (organized as six squadrons, with a division of destroyers attached to each one) and a Destroyer Force (organized as Flotilla Three with three destroyer divisions attached).
All 52 of the US Navy’s flivver and 1,000-ton torpedo boat destroyers were attached to the Atlantic Fleet. Thirty-four were assigned to the Patrol Force1 as follows:
DIVISION TWO (attached to SQUADRON ONE)
Smith, Flusser, Lamson, Preston and Reid.
DIVISION FIVE (attached to SQUADRON TWO)
Walke, Monaghan, Perkins, Roe, Sterett and Terry.
DIVISION EIGHT (attached to SQUADRON THREE)
Warrington, Henley, Beale, Patterson and Mayrant (which was out of commission).
DIVISION ELEVEN (attached to SQUADRON FOUR)
Cummings, Ammen, Jarvis, Burrows, McCall and Fanning.
DIVISION FOURTEEN (attached to SQUADRON FIVE)
Cassin, Jouett, Trippe, Jenkins, Drayton and Paulding.
DIVISION SEVENTEEN (attached to SQUADRON SIX)
Balch, Benham, Aylwin, Parker, Downes and Duncan.
The remaining 18 destroyers—the Navy’s newest—were assigned to the Destroyer Force1 as follows (Allen and Shaw were not commissioned until 24 January and 9 April 1917 respectively):
DIVISION SEVEN
The O’Brien class: Ericsson, O’Brien, McDougal, Cushing, Nicholson and Winslow.
DIVISION EIGHT
The Tucker class: Wadsworth, Conyngham, Jacob Jones, Porter, Tucker and Wainwright.
DIVISION NINE
The Sampson class: Allen, Davis, Rowan, Sampson, Shaw and Wilkes.
