USS Satterlee (DD-190) was a in the United States Navy, entering service in 1919. After brief service until 1922, the ship was placed in reserve. The ship was reactivated for World War II before being transferred to the Royal Navy in 1940. Renamed HMS Belmont, the destroyer was used as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic where she was torpedoed and sunk on 31 January 1942.
Construction
The Clemson-class was a modified version of the previous (itself a faster version of the ) with more fuel, as many of the Wickes-class had poor fuel economy and hence endurance. Like the Wickes-class ships, the Clemsons had flush-decks and four funnels and were ordered in very large numbers to meet the US Navy's need for ships to counter German U-boats as well as to operate with the fleet.
Saterlee was long overall and at the waterline, with a beam of and a draft of . Displacement was normal and full load. The machinery was rated at , giving a design speed of .
Saterlee was the first ship named for Captain Charles Satterlee USCG (1875–1918), captain of the US Coast Guard cutter , who was killed when Tampa was sunk by a German submarine on 26 September 1918. The ship was laid down on 10 July 1918 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia shipyard and was launched on 21 December 1918. The ship was sponsored by Ms. Rebecca E. Satterlee, niece of the ship's namesake. The destroyer was commissioned on 23 December 1919.
Service
United States Navy service
Satterlee joined her destroyer flotilla at Manzanillo, Cuba on 27 January 1920 and conducted training in the Caribbean until 26 April. She then carried out further trials and underwent defect rectification before rejoining her flotilla at Naval Station Newport, the naval base on Newport, Rhode Island, on 11 June. The destroyer joined the Atlantic Fleet at Guantanamo Bay on 10 January 1921 to take part in the fleet maneuvers which continued until 24 April. She then resumed training and upkeep along the Atlantic coast until she was decommissioned on 11 July 1922 and placed in reserve at Philadelphia. She joined the 3rd Escort Group in the Western Approaches Command and conducted escorting duty for Atlantic convoys, broken only for repairs of collision damage between March and July 1941.
In November 1941, Belmont sailed for St. John's, Newfoundland to carry out local escort duties in Canadian waters. or 42.08N 57.26 W according to Hepper and Evans. Firecrest remained with the convoy rather than turning back to search for survivors, as that would have left the convoy unprotected. Belmont had been torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat with all 138 on board being killed.