USS Dale, a 1190-ton Clemson class destroyer, was built at Squantum, Massachusetts as part of the Navy's World War I ship construction effort. Completed well after the end of that conflict, she was commissioned in February 1920 and operated off the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean area for the next four years. Between June 1924 and July 1925, Dale served in northwestern European waters and in the Mediterranean Sea. She then resumed her activities in the Western Atlantic area. Decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May 1930, USS Dale was sold for scrapping in January 1931.

USS Dale was named in honor of Commodore Richard Dale (1756-1826), who served in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and in the United States Navy in the late 1790s and early 1800s.