{|    |} uss stephen potter (dd-538), a , was a ship of the united states navy named for ensign stephen potter (1896&ndash;1918), a naval aviator during world war i. she was commissioned in 1943 and served in the pacific during world war ii. she was then mothballed until 1951 whereupon she saw service in several areas including the korean war. in 1958 she was placed in reserve, and scrapped in 1973. ==construction and commissioning== stephen potter (dd-538) was laid down on 27 october 1942 by the bethlehem steel co., san francisco, california; launched on 28 april 1943; sponsored by sally and marian potter, nieces of ensign potter; and commissioned on 21 october 1943, commander charles h. crichton in command. stephen potter held her shakedown in the san diego area and returned to san francisco on 8 december. the ship sailed for hawaii late in the month and arrived at pearl harbor on the last day of 1943. the destroyer was assigned to the fast carrier task force (called tf&nbsp;58 or tf&nbsp;38, depending on whether it was part of the 5th fleet or 3rd fleet) which sortied, on 16 january 1944, to launch air strikes against the marshall islands. strikes began on 29 january in preparation for the amphibious assault which began on 31 january
1943_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_San_Francisco,_California World_War_II_destroyers_of_the_United_States