 {|    |} uss o'bannon (dd/dde-450), a , was the second ship of the united states navy to be named for lieutenant presley o'bannon (1784â1850), the marine corps's "hero of derna". o'bannon was laid down by bath iron works corp. in bath, maine on 3&nbsp;march 1941, and launched 19&nbsp;february 1942, sponsored by mrs. e.&nbsp;f. kennedy, descendant of lieutenant o'bannon. o'bannon and her sister ship nicholas (dd-449) were the first two fletchers to be launched. o'bannon was commissioned at boston on 26&nbsp;june 1942, commander edwin r. wilkinson in command. == 1942 == o'bannon briefly trained for war in the caribbean and sailed from boston on 29&nbsp;august 1942 for the southwest pacific, where the long and arduous guadalcanal campaign had just begun. for over a year, the navyâstretched thin to cover its worldwide commitments at a period when new ships were just beginning to join the fleet in any numberâwas to fight and fight again in the solomon islands in one of the most bitterly contested campaigns of history, wresting air and sea control from the japanese and providing the marine corps and the army with every possible support as they gained ground inch by inch on the myriad islands. assigned the destroyer squadron 21 (desron&nbsp;21), o'bannon played a valiant part in these endeavors, winning a presidential unit citation. based at [[no
1942_ships Cold_War_destroyers_of_the_United_States Fletcher-class_destroyers_of_the_United_States_Navy Korean_War_destroyers_of_the_United_States Ships_built_in_Maine United_States_Navy_Virginia-related_ships Vietnam_War_destroyers_of_the_United_States World_War_II_destroyers_of_the_United_States