USS Robinson (DD-88) was a in the United States Navy, later transferred to the Royal Navy, as HMS Newmarket (G47). She was the first ship named for Isaiah Robinson.
She was laid down 31 October 1917 by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, launched 28 March 1918, sponsored by Miss Evelyn Tingey Selfridge, and commissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 19 October 1918.
Construction and design
In 1916, the US Congress authorized a massive three-year shipbuilding program, with the aim of matching the largest navy in the world, the British Royal Navy. The program included 50 destroyers, which were to be built to a modified version of the , designed to reach rather than the of the Caldwells. As such, the new design, the , had more powerful machinery with geared steam turbines, but retained the same flush-decked layout and armament used by the Caldwells. The Wickes were built to one of two detailed designs, one design by Bethlehem Steel, used by the two Bethlehem-owned shipyards, Union Iron Works and the Fore River Shipyard, while the design by Bath Iron Works was used by all other shipyards involved in the program.
Robinson was one of 20 destroyers ordered as the first stage of the construction plan, under the Fiscal year 1917 construction program.
The Bethlehem-designed ships, like Robinson, were long overall and at the waterline, with a beam of and a draft of . The machinery was designed to give , giving a design speed of . 225 tons of oil were carried, giving a design range of at .
On 3 January 1942, Newmarket had to leave Convoy HX 166 because of boiler trouble, and proceeded to Lough Foyle. On 30 January 1942 she arrived at Liverpool, and was under refit until the end of March 1942.
In April 1942, she escorted the Russian convoy PQ-14, but a month later, she was allocated for duty as an aircraft target ship in the Firth of Forth. She refitted at Leith between December 1942 and February 1943, and later in the year, refitted again at Rosyth, Scotland. In September 1943, Newmarket was reduced to care and maintenance status at Rosyth but resumed duty as an aircraft target ship from the spring of 1944, until after the end of the war in Europe. She was scrapped at Llanelli in September 1945.