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The list of ship decommissionings in 1940 includes a chronological list of ships decommissioned in 1940. In cases where no official decommissioning ceremony was held, the date of withdrawal from service may be used instead. Notably, several destroyers were decommissioned by the United States Navy during 1940 for immediate transfer to the Royal Navy under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the two nations.
USS Claxton (DD-140), named for Thomas Claxton, was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Entering service in 1919, the destroyer saw intermittent use during the interwar period. During World War II, Claxton was transferred to the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Salisbury. The ship saw service in the Battle of the Atlantic before sold for scrapping in 1944.
The first ship named in honor of Rear Admiral Aaron Ward, USS Aaron Ward (DD-132) was a Wickes-class destroyer in service with the United States Navy. In 1940, she was transferred to the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Castleton.
The first USS Abbot (DD-184) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy until traded to Britain at the beginning of World War II. She served in the Royal Navy as HMS Charlestown (I21), a Town-class destroyer.
The first USS Evans (DD–78) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I, later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Mansfield.
The first USS Cowell (DD–167) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I. She was transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Brighton, and later to the Soviet Navy as Zharky.
The second USS Foote (DD–169) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Roxborough (I07) and later to the Soviet Navy as Zhyostky.
The first USS Kalk (DD–170) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I, later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Hamilton (I24) and then into the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Hamilton (I24).
The first USS Haraden (DD–183) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy in the period following World War I. She was later transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Columbia, as a Town-class destroyer.
USS MacKenzie (DD–175) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. In 1940, as part of the Destroyers for Bases Agreement she was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy as the Town-class destroyer HMCS Annapolis.
USS Conner (DD-72), a Caldwell-class destroyer, served in the United States Navy, and later in the Royal Navy as HMS Leeds.
USS Mason (DD-191) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Broadwater (H81).
USS Herndon (DD-198) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Herndon served in the United States Coast Guard as CG-17. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS Churchill and still later to the Soviet Navy as Deyatelny.
The first USS McCook (DD-252) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy. Entering service in 1919, the ship had a brief active life before being placed in the reserve fleet. Reactivated for World War II, the ship was transferred to the Royal Navy and then to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed HMCS St. Croix. Assigned as a convoy escort in the Battle of the Atlantic, St. Croix was torpedoed and sunk on 20 September 1943.
The third USS Rodgers (DD-254) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy, transferred to the Royal Navy and served as HMS Sherwood (I80) during World War II.
The second USS Bancroft (DD-256) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy, which briefly served in 1919. Placed in reserve, the ship lay idle before being reactivated for World War II. She was transferred to the Royal Canadian Navy in 1940, where she served as HMCS St. Francis (I93) in the Battle of the Atlantic escorting convoys. The ship was declared surplus in April 1945, sold for scrap and sank on the way to the breakers after a collision in July.
The first USS McLanahan (DD-264) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy and transferred to the Royal Navy where she served as HMS Bradford (H72) during World War II.
USS Edwards (DD-265) was a Clemson-class destroyer in the United States Navy and transferred to the Royal Navy where she served as HMS Buxton (H96) and later in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II.
On 9 September 1940, Aaron Ward was decommissioned at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Transferred to Great Britain as one of the overage destroyers traded to that nation in return for the right to establish American bases on British possessions in the western hemisphere
going out of commission once more at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, on 23 September 1940 to be transferred to England
| Ship events in 1940 | |||||||||||
| Ship launches: | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 |
| Ship commissionings: | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 |
| Ship decommissionings: | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 |
| Shipwrecks: | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 |
