View source for USS Thompson (DD-305)

{{Short description|Clemson-class destroyer}}
{{other ships|USS Thompson}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox ship
|section1={{Infobox ship/image
 |image=USS Thompson (DD-305) underway, during the 1920s (NH 71032).jpg
 |image_caption=USS ''Thompson'', during the middle or later 1920s
 }}

|section2={{Infobox ship/career
 |hide_header=
 |flag={{USN flag|1930}}
 |country=United States
 |name=''Thompson''
 |namesake= [[Richard W. Thompson]]
 |ordered=
 |builder=[[Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation]], [[Union Iron Works]], San Francisco
 |laid_down=25 September 1918
 |launched=15 January 1919
 |acquired=
 |commissioned=16 August 1920
 |decommissioned=4 April 1930
 |struck=22 June 1930
 |honors=
 |fate=Sunk as target, February 1944
 |notes=
 }}

|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics
 |hide_header=
 |header_caption=
 |class= {{sclass|Clemson|destroyer}}
 |displacement=1,308&nbsp;tons
 |length={{convert|314|ft|4|in|m|abbr=on|1}}
 |beam={{convert|30|ft|11|in|m|abbr=on|1}}
 |draft={{convert|9|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on|1}}
 |propulsion=*{{convert|26500|shp|abbr=on|lk=in}};
             *geared turbines,
             *twin propellers
 |speed={{convert|35|kn|lk=in}}
 |range=* {{convert|4900|nmi|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|15|kn|abbr=on}}
 |complement=122 officers and enlisted
 |sensors=
 |EW=
 |armament=*4 × [[4"/50 caliber gun|{{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]] guns,
           *1 × [[3"/23 caliber gun|{{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}]] gun,
           *12 × [[American 21 inch torpedo|{{convert|21|in|mm|0|abbr=on}}]] [[torpedo tube]]s
 |notes=
 }}
}}

'''USS ''Thompson'' (DD-305)''', a {{sclass|Clemson|destroyer}} of the [[U.S. Navy]] named in honor of [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] [[Richard W. Thompson]] (1809–1900), never saw action against an enemy. She was the first Navy ship of that name; the second, {{USS|Thompson|DD-627|3}}, named for [[Robert M. Thompson]], served during [[World War II]] and the [[Korean War]].

==History==
[[File:USS Thompson.jpg|thumb|Domain of Neptunus Rex, USS Thompson, presented to sailor Thomas Bickett Jr, 6 July 1925.]]
The [[keel]] of the first ''Thompson'' was [[Keel laying|laid down]] on 25 September 1918, at [[San Francisco]], by the [[Bethlehem Steel Corporation]].  She was [[ship naming and launching|launched]] on 15 January 1919, sponsored by Mrs. Herbert H. Harris, and was [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] at the [[Mare Island Naval Shipyard]], [[Vallejo, California]], on 16 August 1920.

On 4 September, ''Thompson'' departed San Francisco for a shakedown training cruise which took her as far southward as [[Magdalena Bay]] in [[Baja California Sur]].  She returned to [[San Diego]], on 29 September, to operate with the Battle Fleet as part of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 32, Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 11. After initial fleet operations off the west coast, ''Thompson'' departed from San Diego on 7 January 1921, to take part in fleet maneuvers off [[Panama]] and later off the [[Chile]]an coast, south of [[Valparaíso]].

Departing from Valparaíso on 4 February, she steamed with DesDiv&nbsp;32 to [[Balboa, Panama|Balboa]], [[Panama Canal Zone|Canal Zone]], and thence to [[La Unión, El Salvador|La Unión]], El Salvador. Departing that port on 27 February, she proceeded north and soon resumed operations out of San Diego. Her cruises ranged as far north as [[Seattle]], Washington.

Following her return from exercises to the northward on 21 June she operated off the California coast. On 10 December she departed San Diego and steamed to the [[Puget Sound Naval Shipyard]], [[Bremerton, Washington]], for regular overhaul.

Upon completion of the refit, ''Thompson'' headed for San Diego on 8 February 1922, for resumption of operations with the Battle Fleet. In the following years, she worked out of San Diego and took part in winter and spring maneuvers off Panama, on occasion transiting the [[Panama Canal]] for fleet exercises in the [[Caribbean Sea]].

On 15 April 1926, ''Thompson'' steamed with the Fleet from San Francisco for fleet problems in Hawaiian waters. Upon completion of this training on 1 July she departed [[Pearl Harbor]] with the Fleet, bound for a goodwill cruise to Australia and New Zealand. After calling at [[Pago Pago]], Samoa, on 10 and 11 July, she arrived in [[Melbourne]] on 23 July. In company with [[sister ship]]s {{USS|Kennedy|DD-306|2}}, {{USS|Decatur|DD-341|2}}, and {{USS|Farquhar|DD-304|2}}, ''Thompson'' left Melbourne on 6 August and made port at [[Dunedin]], New Zealand, four days later.

Putting out to sea after a 10-day visit there, ''Thompson'' visited [[Wellington]] from 22 to 24 August. She then proceeded home across the Pacific, via Pago Pago and Pearl Harbor, and reached San Diego on 26 September.

For the remainder of her career, ''Thompson'' continued her operations with DesDiv&nbsp;32, DesRon&nbsp;11. Early the next year, she made a brief visit to the east coast, calling at [[Norfolk, Virginia]], [[Newport, Rhode Island]], and New York City, before returning to San Diego and serving out the rest of her days in operations along the west coast.

Under the terms of the 1930 [[London Naval Treaty]] limiting naval tonnage and armaments, ''Thompson'' was decommissioned on 4 April 1930, struck from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] on 22 June 1930; and sold for scrap on 10 June.

==Fate==
Following her sale, she served as a [[floating restaurant]] in lower [[San Francisco Bay]] during the depression years of the 1930s. In February 1944, the Navy repurchased the ship and partly sank her in the mud flats of San Francisco Bay, south of the [[San Mateo Bridge]], where Army and Navy aircraft carried out bombing runs with dummy bombs.

Portions of the wreck remain above the waterline to this day. She is commonly referred to as the "South Bay Wreck" and many tide tables reference her as a calculation point.<ref>{{cite web | url= https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/noaatidepredictions.html?id=9414609
 | title= South Bay Wreck, San Francisco Bay, California
 | work= NOAA Tide Predictions
 | publisher= Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, [[NOAA]]
 | access-date= 2024-02-12 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/thompson-i.html}}

==External links==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENe89j89tBA ''PilotsEYE.tv – A380 Landing KSFO San Francisco SUBTITLES English – without commentary''].  Lufthansa flight approaching SFO from the south, video from aircraft shows wreck at minute 5:11.
*{{cite web | url= https://www.brianlucido.com/kayaking-to-the-south-bay-wreck-uss-thompson/
 | title= South Bay Wreck
 | work= Kayaking to the South Bay Wreck (USS Thompson) | date= 22 February 2012
 | access-date= 2022-07-29 }}
*{{cite web | url= http://www.navsource.net/archives/05/305.htm
 | title= USS ''Thompson'' (DD-305)
 |last= Willshaw | first= Fred
 |website=NavSource Naval History
 | access-date= 2009-11-01 }}

{{Clemson class destroyer}}
{{February 1944 shipwrecks}}
{{coord|37.5529|-122.1576 |format=dms |type:landmark_region:US-CA |display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson (DD-305)}}
[[Category:Clemson-class destroyers]]
[[Category:Ships built in San Francisco]]
[[Category:1919 ships]]
[[Category:Ships sunk as targets]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of the California coast]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1944]]