Wm.W. Dyers Amazing Navy Career

Wm.W.Dyer was born in South Portland, Maine He enlisted in the US Navy in Portland Maine 4 Oct.1916. After 95 days he was promoted to Boatswain’s Mate 1st. He was promoted Chief Boatswain’s Mate after 239 days while serving on the USS Yankton.
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USS Yankton - Boatswain Wm.W.Dyer as assigned Oct.1916. Jun.1917 he achieved the rank of Boatswain (Temp) He served on the ship until Dec.1918. She was a steel-hulled schooner built in 1893 at Leith, Scotland, by Ramage & Ferguson. She was acquired by the US Navy in May 1898; renamed Yankton; and commissioned on 16 May 1898 at Norfolk, Virginia. In World War I she headed for Gibraltar to join the Patrol Forces protecting Allied shipping from German U-boats, and she came under hostile fire during combat.
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USS Louisiana (BB- ) Boatswain Wm. W. Dyer was assigned Dec.1918 for 22 Mo – During the First World War Louisiana (BB-19) , a Connecticut Class Battleship was assigned as a gunnery and engineering training ship, cruising off the middle Atlantic coast until 25 September 1918. At that time she became one of the escorts for a convoy to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Beginning on 24 December, she saw duty as a troop transport, making four voyages to Brest, France to carry troops back to the United States. . Bill Dyer and Mary A. Dahlmer were married in Gloucester on 2Apr.1920.
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USS Hanibal (AG-1) – Boatswain Wm. W. Dyer was assigned Oct.1920 for 35 Mos. To USS Hannibal. She was classified as a "miscellaneous auxiliary" in July 1920, with the hull number AG-1. Recommissioned some months later, she resumed her survey service early in 1921, primarily operating in the Caribbean. This work continued through the next two decades and lasted into World War II .
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USS Chwink (AM-39) – Lt. Wm. W. Dyer was assigned Oct.1925 for for 24 months. The first USS Chewink (AM-39/ASR-3) was a Lapwing-class minesweeper in the United States Navy. She was later converted to a submarine rescue ship. Chewink was launched 21 December 1918 by Todd Shipyard Corp., New York City; sponsored by Miss M. Sperrin; and commissioned 9 April 1919, Lieutenant (junior grade) J. Williams in command. She was reclassified ASR-3 on 12 September 1929. WW Dyer was promoted to Lt.Cmdr, 1st class before reporting to his next duty station
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USS Bushnell (AS-15) - Lt.Cmdr.Wm.W.Dyer was assigned to the Bushnell Feb.1927 for16 months. She had been launched 9 February 1915 by Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company, Seattle, Washington and commissioned 24 November 1915. She was assigned to the Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, as tender to L-class submarines in January 1916 and arrived on the east coast in February. In September 1920 she assisted in salvage operations on the submarine USS S-5 (SS-110) sunk off the Delaware Capes. Up until August 1931, Sumner cruised with various Submarine Divisions on the Atlantic coast, in the Caribbean, on the west coast, and in the Hawaiian Islands
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USS Lark (AM21) - Lt.Cmdr. Wm.W. Dyer was assigned Aug.1928 for 18 mos. The minesweeper operated from Gloucester, Massachusetts, along the U.S. East Coast, with winter deployments in the Caribbean, until 1931. During that period she transited the Panama Canal twice, on a voyage to Hawaii for Fleet Problem V in 1925. On 2 February 1931 she departed the Massachusetts coast for the Pacific Ocean, arriving at Oahu 25 April. She operated out of Pearl Harbor for the next 10 years, making periodic cruises to Samoa.
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USS Grebe (AM-43) - Lt. Cmdr. Wm.W.Dyer was assigned to the Greebe in July of 1930 for 47 months. She was a Lapwing-class minesweeper in the United States Navy. She was built by the Staten Island Steam Boat Co., was launched 17 December 1918 It served in many capacities until it was destroyed by a hurricane in 1943. At Portsmouth, NH she decommissioned 12 May 1922. Grebe was recommissioned on 15 November 1922 On 16 December she sailed for St. Thomas, capital of the Virgin Islands, where she served as station ship until 1931. . Lt. Cmdr. Wm.W.Dyer was assigned to the Greebe in July of 1930 for 47 months. During that duty he was promoted to Commander. Grebe's finest moment came in 1930. A hurricane laid waste large parts of the Dominican Republic and killed thousands in September. Carrying trained medical men and emergency supplies Grebe was the first ship to reach devastated Santo Domingo. She remained there for two weeks, helping unload other ships and clear debris.
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Towing USS Constitution
Grebe then returned to Boston, Massachusetts. There on 12 July 1931 she took in tow historic USS Constitution. A long campaign had resulted in restoration of the famed ship to its original condition, and Grebe was to spend the next three years as her tender and towing ship as they visited every major American port, East and West Coast. Millions of Americans thrilled to their heritage touring "Old Ironsides" in New York City, Norfolk, Key West, Galveston, Guantanamo, Los Angeles, Seattle, Bellingham, Portland, and the Panama Canal Zone.
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Transfer to the Pacific Ocean
On 12 May 1934 Grebe relinquished her duties with Constitution, entering the Philadelphia Navy Yard for overhaul. After a brief tour of duty at Norfolk, Virginia, 21 August to 14 September, she sailed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, towed for fleet gunnery practice until 12 October, then sailed to San Pedro, California, arriving 19 November. Operating there until mid-1940; she performed a variety of tasks, including towing for target practice, participating in fleet problems, minesweeping exercises, training squadron details, and harbor service. Her tour there was interrupted by two voyages, the first to Pearl Harbor 6-31 May 1935 for fleet problems and the second to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Norfolk, Virginia, 26 December to 7 May 1939 for gunnery exercises.
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Sixteenth Naval District – Philippine Islands. Cmdr. Wm.W.Dyer was transferred to the 16th.ND in Jan.1939 for 30 months. Pre-WW2 records are difficult to access at this time but we assume his duties were administrative in nature either at the Subic Bay Naval Base or the Cavite Navy Yard on Luzon. We hope to add more to this segment of Bill Dyers navy record as more data becomes available.
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First Naval District, Boston, Ma. Cmdr.Wm. W. Dyer transferred to Boston Naval Yard in 1940 as Asst. to Yard Commander.
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First Naval District, Boston, Ma. Cmdr. Wm.W.Dyer retired at the reserve rank of Lt.Commander in 1945 after 30 years service to the United States Navy.
Wm.D. Hubbard, 7 Dec.2012