USS Woolsey, a 1090-ton Wickes class destroyer built at Bath, Maine, was commissioned at the end of September 1918. During the final month of World War I she made one trans-Atlantic convoy escort voyage to Ireland, returning to the U.S. by way of the Azores. She made another eastbound trip across the Atlantic in December 1918 as part of the force escorting President Woodrow Wilson to Brest, France. After some six months of service in European Waters, in late June and early July 1919 Woolsey accompanied President Wilson as he came home from the peace conferences that formally brought the "Great War" to a conclusion. Later in July she transited the Panama Canal to become part of the Pacific Fleet, subsequently taking part in maneuvers in the Hawaiian area and along the West Coast. Woolsey was out of commission between May and October 1920, during time which she was overhauled and somewhat modified. When that work was completed she was placed back in commission and resumed her schedule of Pacific Fleet activities. On 26 February 1921, while at sea off the Panama Canal Zone, USS Woolsey collided with SS Steel Inventor. She was cut in two and sank, with the loss of seventeen crew members.

USS Woolsey was named in honor of Commodore Melancthon Taylor Woolsey, USN, (1782-1838).