Charles F. Wedderburn

Charles Foster Wedderburn was born in Chicago, Ill., on 2 October 1892 but grew up in Washington, D.C. Appointed a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy on 7 July 1911, he graduated and received his commission on 5 June 1915. Ensign Wedderburn served in the cruiser Brooklyn (CA-3) from graduation to the end of 1915. In December 1915, he transferred to the destroyer Chauncey (DD-3) assigned to the Asiatic Fleet and based at Cavite in the Philippines. He was promoted to lieutenant (j.g.) on 1 July 1917; and, a month later, his ship departed Cavite with orders to the coast of France. Based at St. Nazaire, his ship escorted convoys in the eastern Atlantic. While on such a mission about 110 miles west of Gibraltar, Chauncey was involved in a fatal collision with the British merchantman, SS Rose, on the night of 18–19 November. The destroyer sank at about 03:17 on the morning of the 19th taking Wedderburn and 20 of his comrades to their deaths.