USS Lawrence (DD-8)

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Career

Laid down:	10 April 1899
Launched:	7 November 1900
Commissioned:	7 April 1903
Decommissioned:	20 June 1919
Fate:	Sold and converted to merchant, on 3 January 1920
Struck:	19 September 1919
General characteristics
Displacement:	430 tons
Length:	248 ft 3 in (75.67 m)
Beam:	22 ft 3 in (6.78 m)
Draught:
Propulsion:
Speed:	30 knots (56 km/h)
Complement:	72 officers and enlisted
Armament:	Two 3 inch (76 mm) guns, five 6 pounder guns, two 18 inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes

The third USS Lawrence (DD-8) was a destroyer in the United States Navy.

Lawrence was laid down on 10 April 1899 by Fore River Ship & Engine Company, Weymouth, Massachusetts; launched on 7 November 1900; sponsored by Miss Ruth Lawrence, great niece of Captain Lawrence; and commissioned on 7 April 1903, Lieutenant Andre M. Proctor in command.

Assigned to the 2d Torpedo Flotilla, Lawrence operated along the Atlantic coast, taking part in the fleet search problem off the New England coast during the summer of 1903. The torpedo boat departed Norfolk 17 December, and sailed to Key West for winter exercises.

During 1904 she performed Midshipmen cruises and acted as a torpedo practice ship. She continued exercises in the Caribbean and along the Atlantic coast until she decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 14 November 1906.

Lawrence recommissioned on 23 July 1907 and resumed training operations out of Norfolk. Departing Hampton Roads 2 December, she sailed with the torpedo flotilla for winter maneuvers in the Caribbean and off South America. She arrived San Diego on 28 April 1908 and stood out San Francisco 8 days later as the "Great White Fleet" steamed into San Francisco Bay. During the next 4 years she operated in the Pacific with the 3d Torpedo Flotilla patrolling the coast from Canada to Panama and engaged in exercises with the fleet. From on 1 June 1912 to on 23 April 1914 Lawrence was in commission in reserve.

Returned to full commission status, she departed San Francisco 25 April to patrol the Mexican coast and protect American and foreign nationals during the Mexican revolution. Returning to Mare Island 12 September, the destroyer was once again placed in reserve status.

After America's entry into World War I, Lawrence was placed in full commission on 13 June 1917 to join coastal defense units. Arriving Balboa, Panama, on 29 July, she guarded the ocean approaches to the Panama Canal Zone until on 30 May 1918 when she steamed toward Key West. Upon her arrival there she operated as coastal escort and patrol ship. After the Armistice ending World War I, Lawrence steamed to Philadelphia, arriving there on 1 February 1919. She decommissioned 20 June and was sold to Joseph G. Hitner of Philadelphia on 3 January 1920.