USS Walker (DD-163)

History: The first USS Walker (DD-163) was a Wickes-class destroyer that saw service in the United States Navy during World War I. She was named for Admiral John Grimes Walker.

Designated as the damage control hulk DCH-1 on 11 July 1940, the vessel was based at the Destroyer Base, San Diego, and used for training exercises in formulating and evolving new damage control techniques. In the following year, as the Pacific Fleet's base had been moved from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, plans were made to tow DCH-1 (which had been stripped of propulsion machinery during the initial conversion work to YW-57) to the Hawaiian Islands. She was re-designated as IX-44 on 17 February 1941. On 28 December 1941, while being towed from San Diego, California, to Pearl Harbor, by the oiler USS Neches, DCH-1 was cast adrift and scuttled by gunfire from Neches at 26°35′N 143°49′W.

Class: The Wickes-class destroyers (DD-75 to DD-185) were a class of 111 destroyers built by the United States Navy in 1917–1919. Along with the 6 preceding Caldwell-class and 156 subsequent Clemson-class destroyers, they formed the "flush-deck" or "four-stack" type. Only a few were completed in time to serve in World War I, including USS Wickes, the lead ship of the class.

While some were scrapped in the 1930s, the rest served through World War II. Most of these were converted to other uses; nearly all in U.S. service had half their boilers and one or more stacks removed to increase fuel and range or accommodate troops.[2] Others were transferred to the British Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, some of which were later transferred to the Soviet Navy. All were scrapped within a few years after World War II.

Nationality: The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.