National Museum of the U.S. Navy

Return of the Mayflower:  May 4, 1917

Sailing from Boston on April 24, 1917, Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Division 8, led six vessels to Queenstown, Ireland, to quell the German U-Boats.  The destroyers were USS McDougal (Destroyer #54); USS Conyngham (Destroyer #58); USS Porter (Destroyer #59); USS Wadsworth (Destroyer #60), and USS Davis (Destroyer #62).   Arriving on May 4, Division 8 was immortalized in the painting "The Return of the Mayflower."  Dispatching further warships, 34 destroyers were patrolling in the area by July 1917.   The convoy system and the increased number of ASW vessels changed the German U-Boat campaign, designed to cripple merchant shipping, and was defeated. 

Image:  KN-215:  Return of the Mayflower, May 4, 1917.   Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.