Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The first USS Thomas (DD 182) was a Wickes class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS St Albans (I15), as a Town class destroyer, but spent most of the war in the exiled Norwegian navy, before transferred to the Soviet Navy as Dostoyny. Named after Clarence Crase Thomas, she was laid down on 23 March 1918 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company; launched on 4 July 1918; sponsored by Mrs. Evelyn M. Thomas, widow of Lieutenant Thomas; and commissioned on 25 April 1919, Lieutenant Commander Harry A. McClure in command.