USS Alden

USS Alden (DD-211) was a Clemson-class destroyer of the United States Navy (USN). Serving during World War II, Alden is the only ship of the US Navy to have been named for Rear Admiral James Alden, Jr. (1810–1877).

Alden was laid down on 24 October 1918 and launched on 14 May 1919 by William Cramp & Sons, sponsored by Miss Sarah Alden Dorsey, a niece of the late Rear Admiral Alden, and commissioned on 24 November 1919.

Following shakedown training and post-shakedown repairs and alterations, Alden, subsequently her classification changed from "Destroyer No 211" to DD-211 during the fleet-wide assignment of alphanumeric hull numbers on 17 July 1920, sailed on 5 December 1919 for duty in European waters, proceeding to Constantinople, and then to Samsun, Turkey.

Alden visited Adriatic ports during the spring of 1920, investigating political conditions and "showing the flag" to protect American interests in the area, her ports of call including Split, Gravosa, and Pula. During her trips along the Adriatic coast, she carried mail and passengers, and for a time served as station ship at Venice. Proceeding to Constantinople to participate in relief efforts for refugees from the Russian Civil War, she resumed her Adriatic operations soon afterwards, visiting Kotor and Split before she returned to Venice on 12–13 December 1920. She then again visited Split and Gravosa, in succession, before she proceeded to Salonika, Greece, where she arrived on 15 December.

Released from duty with the United States Naval Detachment in the Adriatic soon afterwards, Alden sailed for the Asiatic Station via the Suez Canal. She ultimately reached Manila, Philippine Islands, on 2 February 1921. Following upkeep at the Asiatic Fleet's base at Cavite, the destroyer sailed for Chinese waters, and arrived at Chefoo on 22 June. She operated out of the Asiatic Fleet destroyers' summer base until 15 September, when she sailed for Shanghai. Assigned special duty, Alden wound up her ten-day stay in that port on 27 September and cleared Shanghai for the Yangtze River port of Hankow, which she reached on 1 October. Remaining there until the 7th, she proceeded back to Shanghai, arriving on the 9th to stay only long enough to fuel and take on provisions, before she sailed for the Philippines the same day.

Alden arrived at Cavite on 12 October, sailed to Manila two days later for a three-day liberty and recreation port visit. The ship then spent two months operating out of Olongapo on target practice, returning to Manila on 17 December. She then fueled and took on stores at Cavite before she sailed to Mariveles, where she operated with Asiatic Fleet submarines. Alden then conducted long-range battle practice evolutions out of Manila until January 1922. Subsequently, she based temporarily out of Olongapo before undergoing a tender availability alongside Buffalo in March. Then, following a stint of target and torpedo practice in the waters of Lingayen Gulf from 13 April to 25 May 1922, the destroyer enjoyed a five-day respite at Manila before she sailed for Shanghai, China, on 3 June and a drydocking in that port. Alden then sailed for Japanese waters, visiting the port of Yokohama.

Winding up her deployment in the Asiatic Fleet that summer, Alden sailed for the United States, and ultimately reached San Francisco, California on 2 October. She was decommissioned at San Diego, California on 24 January 1923.

Alden remained inactive through the rest of the 1920s, but was recommissioned at San Diego on 8 May 1930 and assigned to Destroyer Squadrons, Battle Fleet (later, Destroyers, Battle Force). As part of Destroyer Division 46 (DesDiv 46), and later as a unit of DesDiv 10, Alden was homeported at San Diego, with her home yard at Mare Island Navy Yard. She carried out regular underway training evolutions, with routine periods of upkeep in port over the next six years.