Named for the builder.
Herreshoff #321, a steel-hulled sub-chaser, was built by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, R.I. Owner Payne Whitney of New York had inquired of Assistant Secretary of the Navy F. D. Roosevelt what he might do to help the war effort and it was suggested that he might contract for a sub-chaser to be later purchased by the Navy. Herreshoff #321 was taken over and commissioned 24 March 1918 at Newport, R.I.
After steaming to New London, Conn., for the installation of listening gear, Herreshoff #321 departed 5 May in company with two other similar boats for duty in the Canal Zone. Stopping at Charleston, Key West, and Guantanamo Bay en route, they arrived Cristobal, Canal Zone, 1 June 1918. Herreshoff #321 was assigned duty as a patrol vessel in Panama Bay and was used for aerial patrol off Panama. After being first offered for sale, the motor boat was designated for duty at Torpedo Station, Keyport, Wash. 7 December 1920. While being towed to Washington 7 October 1921, however, the towing hawser parted and before Nitro, the towing vessel, could make her fast again the boat sank. The sinking occurred off the coast of southern California; Herreshoff #321 was stricken from the Navy List 8 October 1921.
