USS Mahan (DD-102)

The first USS Mahan (DD-102) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and later designated, DM-7, in the years following. She was named in honor of Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan.

History
Mahan was laid down 4 May 1918 by the Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts; launched 4 August 1918; sponsored by Miss Ellen K. Mahan, niece of Rear Admiral Mahan; and commissioned 24 October 1918, Lieutenant Commander F. P. Conger in command.

After shakedown, Mahan operated off Cuba until May 1919 when she steamed to the Azores to become one of the guide ships for the transatlantic flights of Navy flying boats NC-1, NC-3, and NC-4. Returning to Boston by way of Brest, France, 21 June, Mahan was converted to a light minelayer and was redesignated DM-7, 17 July 1920.

With the exception of a cruise to Pearl Harbor for maneuvers early in 1925, Mahan operated along the east coast, in the Caribbean and off the Panama Canal Zone for the next 10 years, During this time she participated in fleet training exercises; patrolled courses for international races; e.g., the International Six Meter Sailing Races of 1922 and 1927; assisted in salvage operations for submarines S-51 (September 1925, off Block Island and S-4 (periodically from 17 December 1927 through mid-March 1928, off Provincetown, Massachusetts); and conducted reserve training cruises in the Caribbean, 1928 to September 1929. Throughout the decade, in addition to her regular duties, she served as an experimental ship, testing new equipment for the Navy’s future use.

On 20 September 1929, she entered Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she decommissioned 1 May 1930. Struck from the Navy Register 22 October, she was sold for scrap 17 January 1931 to the Boston Iron & Metal Company of Baltimore, Maryland.

Fiction
USS Mahan (DD-102) is a ship used in the Destroyermen series, written by Taylor Anderson. In the books, Mahan and her sister ship Walker are pursued by superior Japanese naval forces after the Battle of the Java Sea and seek refuge in a squall. The squall transports Walker and Mahan to an alternate earth, one where a different evolutionary path occurred. Anderson also uses other decommissioned ships in the series: USS Walker (DD-163), USS S-19 (SS-124), and the Japanese battlecruiser Amagi.