High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Cushing (Destroyer No. 55/DD-55) was an O`Brien-class destroyer built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the second U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of William B. Cushing, a U.S. Navy officer best known for sinking the Confederate ironclad warship CSS Albemarle during the American Civil War.