USS Goff (DD-247) was a United States Navy Clemson-class destroyer in commission from 1921 to 1931 and from 1932 to 1945. She saw service during the Second Nicaraguan Campaign and World War II. She was named for Secretary of the Navy Nathan Goff, Jr.
Construction and commissioning
Goff was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. Laid down on 16 June 1919, she was launched on 2 June 1920, sponsored by Mrs. Nathan Goff, widow of the former Secretary of the Navy. Goff was commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on League Island in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 19 January 1921.
Service history
1921–1931
For the first two years of her service, Goff operated along the United States East Coast, conducting battle practice and exercises in the yearly Caribbean fleet maneuvers as well as off the U.S. East Coast. In September 1922, she was detached from this duty and assigned to the United States Atlantic Fleet, European Waters. Departing Norfolk, Virginia, on 14 October 1922, she cruised primarily in the Eastern Mediterranean, putting in at ports in Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece, and Romania. It was a period of great unrest in the Balkans and eastern Mediterranean: Greece and Turkey were at war, various powers were scrambling to consolidate after World War I and gain control over the now-defunct Ottoman Empire, and Russia, although still wracked by the Russian Civil War and its aftermath, was seeking further territory and an outlet to the Mediterranean Sea. The presence of U.S. Navy warships amidst this tension assisted various relief agencies working to mitigate the damage from past and present wars as well as protect American lives, interests, and property. U.S. Navy vessels frequently evacuated and cared for refugees from the Greco-Turkish War, and Goff participated in this humanitarian service, particularly at Marsina, where from 18 to 20 July 1923 she supervised the evacuation of hundreds of Turkish refugees.