USS Craven, a 1020-ton Caldwell class destroyer, was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia. Commissioned in October 1918, she operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean area during the rest of that year and well into 1919. In May 1919 she steamed to the mid-Atlantic to serve as a weather and guard ship during the trans-oceanic flight of the NC flying boats. Craven was generally inactive after October 1919 and, when the Navy formally adopted hull numbers in mid-1920, she was designated DD-70. She was briefly returned to active status in 1921 for fleet maneuvers and local use in the Charleston, South Carolina, area. Placed out of commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in June 1922, Craven was laid up there for nearly two decades.

At the end of May 1936, her name was taken away and assigned to a new USS Craven (DD-382). For the next three years, the old destroyer was simply called DD-70 (ex-Craven). In November 1939, after the outbreak of World War II in Europe made it likely that she would be returned to active duty, DD-70 was renamed Conway. She was recommissioned in August 1940, but had little U.S. Navy service before being transferred to the United Kingdom in October 1940 as part of the "destroyers for bases" transaction. Renamed Lewes for service in the British Royal Navy, she was employed in the Atlantic in 1940-1944 and thereafter in the Indian Ocean and Australian waters. Removed from active service in 1945, HMS Lewes was scuttled off Australia in May 1946.