USS Moody, a 1190-ton Clemson class destroyer built at Squantum, Massachusetts, was commissioned in December 1919. She steamed to the Pacific in early 1920 and operated from Southern California to Alaska until decommissioned at San Diego in June 1922. When the Navy implemented its hull number system in July 1920, Moody was designated DD-277. Returned to active service in September 1923, the destroyer was assigned to the Battle Fleet for the rest of the decade. Though primarily serving in West Coast waters, she deployed to Hawaii in 1925 and 1928, visited Australia and New Zealand during the Battle Fleet's mid-1925 trans-Pacific cruise, and operated in the Caribbean and off the East Coast in 1927. USS Moody was placed out of commission in June 1930 and stricken from the list of Naval vessels in November of that year. She was partially scrapped in 1931, and her hull was sunk off the California coast in February 1933.