USS Tucker (DD-374)

USS Tucker off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 2 March 1937
History
United States
Name	Tucker
Namesake	Samuel Tucker
Builder	Norfolk Navy Yard
Laid down	15 August 1934
Launched	26 February 1936
Commissioned	23 July 1936
Stricken	2 December 1944
Fate	Struck mine off Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, 4 August 1942
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Mahan-class destroyer
Displacement	1,500 long tons (1,524 t) (standard load) 1,725 long tons (1,753 t) (deep load)
Length	341 ft (103.9 m)
Beam	35 ft 6 in (10.8 m)
Draft	10 ft 7 in (3.2 m)
Installed power	46,000 shaft horsepower (34,000 kW) 4 water-tube boilers
Propulsion	2 shafts 2 geared steam turbines
Speed	37 knots (69 km/h; 43 mph)
Range	6,940 nmi (12,850 km; 7,990 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	158 officers and enlisted men
Sensors and processing systems	1 × gun director above bridge
Armament	5 × single 5 in (127 mm) DP guns 3 × quadruple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 4 × single .50 cal (12.7 mm) AA machine guns 2 × depth charge stern racks Depth charge projectors (aka K-guns)

USS Tucker (DD-374) was one of 18 Mahan-class destroyers built for the United States Navy and was commissioned in 1936. Tucker's main battery consisted of five dual-purpose 38 caliber 5-inch (127 mm) guns.

First assigned to the United States Battle Fleet in San Diego, California, Tucker operated along the West Coast and in the Hawaiian Islands. After participating in naval exercises in the Caribbean Sea, she returned to duty in Hawaii. She then went on a goodwill tour to New Zealand, returning to Hawaii and docking at Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Tucker was undergoing an overhaul and was not attacked. Soon afterward, she began escorting convoys between the West Coast and Hawaii. Tucker was then tasked with escort duty to islands in the South Pacific.

Tucker steamed out of port on 1 August 1942, escorting a cargo ship to Espiritu Santo. They entered its harbor three days later, where the destroyer unknowingly entered a defensive minefield laid by the US Navy. Tucker struck at least one mine that tore her almost in two, sinking her and killing three sailors; the rest of the crew survived.