Stribling I (Destroyer No. 96)
(Destroyer No. 96: dp. 1,191 (n.) ; 1. 314'4- "; b. 30'11- " (wl.) ; dr. 9'2" (mean); s. 34.41 k.; cpl. 108; a. 4 4", 2 1-pdrs., 12 21" tt.; cl. Wickes)
Cornelius Kinchiloe Stribling was born at Pendleton, S.C., on 22 September 1796. He was appointed midshipman on 18 June 1812, the day the United States declared war on Great Britain. During the War of 1812, he served in Macedonian from 1 January 1813 to April 1814 and in Mohawk from then until April 1815. While assigned to Mohawk on Lake Ontario, Midshipman Stribling participated in the blockade of Kingston in the summer and fall of 1814.
Soon after the end of the war, he returned to Macedonian and, in 1815, participated in the capture of two Algerine ships, a frigate and a brig, by Commodore Stephen Decatur's squadron. In October of 1815, Stribling was transferred to Constellation and returned home in that frigate at the end of 1817. On 1 April 1818, he was promoted to lieutenant and served successively in Hornet, Peacock, John Adams, and again in Constellation, during the campaigns against pirates in the West Indies. In 1823, he was given command of two barges along the coast of Cuba and with them captured buccaneer schooner Pilot after a running fight.
During the Mexican War, Stribling was attached to ship-of-the-line Ohio and took part in operations against the coastal towns of Lower California and western Mexico. From 1851 to 1853, he served as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy. On 1 August 1853, he became Captain Stribling. From 1854 to 1855, he commanded San Jacinto and, between 1857 and 1859, he was Commandant at the Pensacola Navy Yard.
After two years as Commander of the East India Squadron, Capt. Stribling returned home in 1861 to find the Union rent asunder by the Civil War. He forsook the land of his birth, South Carolina, to support the Union cause. Under the provisions of the Act of Congress, effective 21 December 1861, his long service required that he be placed upon the retired list. That action and a promotion to the rank of Commodore took place on 2 August 1862.
However, the exigencies of war soon brought him back to active duty. He commanded the Philadelphia Navy Yard until 23 September 1864, when he was ordered to assume command of the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. He held this post for the duration of the war. On 6 August 1866, he was appointed to the Lighthouse Board and remained with that organization until 18 September 1871, having served as president of the board from 15 March 1869. Rear Admiral Stribling died at Martinsburg, W. Va., on 17 January 1880.
I
The first Stribling (Destroyer No. 96) was laid down at Quincy, Mass., on 14 December 1912 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 29 May 1918; sponsored by Miss Mary Calvert Stribling; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 16 August 1918, Lt. Comdr. Thomas E. Van Metre in command.
On 31 August, Stribling departed New York to escort a convoy across the Atlantic. However, machinery trouble forced her back into New York the following day. After almost three weeks in port, she got underway again on 18 September, this time as an escort to a Gibraltar-bound convoy. She fueled at Ponta Delgada in the Azores and made Gibraltar in early October. From there, she sailed with a convoy for Marseilles on 10 October. For the next month, she made several Gibraltar-to-Marseilles circuits with Allied convoys.
After the Armistice, she sailed to Venice, Italy, to investigate post-armistice conditions there and at various other ports on Italy's Adriatic coast and in Dalmatia. At the completion of that duty, she headed back to the United States, arriving home in July of 1919. Stribling entered the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard for overhaul and repairs before being placed in reduced commission at Philadelphia. There, she was converted to a minelayer and, on 17 July 1920, she was redesignated DM-1. In September 1921, she departed Philadelphia and sailed to the west coast and, from there, proceeded on to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After a series of maneuvers in the islands, Stribling was decommissioned on 26 June 1922. On 1 December 1936, her name was struck from the Navy list. The following month, her hulk was towed to San Pedro, Calif., where she was sunk as a target.
