USS Worden ( DD - 352 ) The third USS " Worden " ( DD - 352 ) was a " Farragut " - class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II . She was named for John Lorimer Worden . " Worden " was laid down on 29 December 1932 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard ; launched on 27 October 1934 ; sponsored by Mrs . Katrina L . Halligan , the wife of Rear Admiral John Halligan , Jr . , Commander , Aircraft , Battle Force ; and commissioned on 15 January 1935 , Commander Robert E . Kerr in command . Pre - World War II . After fitting out , " Worden " departed Puget Sound on 1 April 1935 for her shakedown cruise that took her first to San Diego , California , and thence along the coast of Lower California and Mexico to Puerto San José , Guatemala , and Puntarenas , Costa Rica . The new destroyer then transited the Panama Canal on 6 May and steamed north to Washington , D . C . , where on 17 May she embarked Rear Admiral Joseph K . Taussig , Assistant Chief of Naval Operations , along with a congressional party , for a cruise down the Potomac River to Mount Vernon . " Worden " subsequently returned to the Washington Navy Yard where her guns were disassembled for alterations . She then shifted south on 21 May to the Norfolk Navy Yard . In the ensuing weeks , the ship underwent voyage repairs at Norfolk . The yard work was broken once by trials and tests off Rockland , Maine , and completed in the early summer . She ultimately left the Norfolk Navy Yard on 1 July and spent the weekend of the 4th at New Bedford , Massachusetts , before setting her course for the west coast . After proceeding via Guantanamo Bay and the Panama Canal , she arrived back at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 3 August . After a post - shakedown refit at her builders ' yard , " Worden " shifted south to San Diego , reaching that port on 19 September , and commenced four years of operations from there as a unit of Destroyer Squadrons , Scouting Force . She performed valuable duty as a training ship for the Fleet Sound School , San Diego , and conducted the usual tactics and type training evolutions in local waters and in maneuvers that took her from Seward , Alaska , to Callao , Peru . She also participated in regularly scheduled fleet problems and battle tactics with combined forces of the United States Fleet in the Caribbean Sea and in the Hawaiian Islands . One of the highlights of her operations during that time came in the autumn of 1937 . In mid - September — " Worden " , in company with " Hull " ( DD - 350 ) and escorting the aircraft carrier " Ranger " ( CV - 4 ) — voyaged to Callao , Peru , for a visit that coincided with the Inter - American Technical Aviation Conference at Lima . While " Ranger " proceeded independently homeward upon conclusion of her visit , the destroyers paused at Balboa , Panama Canal Zone , before returning to San Diego . The coming of war in Europe on 1 September 1939 altered " Worden ' s " pattern of operations out of San Diego . Five days after hostilities began in Poland , the Navy commenced its Neutrality Patrol duties on 6 September . On 22 September , the Chief of Naval Operations directed the Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet to transfer , temporarily , to the Hawaiian area two heavy cruiser divisions , a destroyer flotilla flagship ( a light cruiser ) , two destroyer squadrons , one destroyer tender , an aircraft carrier , and base force units necessary for servicing those ships ; that dispatch marked the establishment of the Hawaiian Detachment — the forerunner of the ultimate basing of the Fleet at Pearl Harbor . " Worden " was attached to this new force , commanded by Vice Admiral Adolphus Andrews , whose flag flew in the heavy cruiser " Indianapolis " ( CA - 35 ) . On 5 October 1939 , she sailed for Pearl Harbor . " Worden " worked primarily in the Hawaiian Islands over the next two years , interspersing her time at Pearl Harbor and its environs with regular periods of upkeep on the west coast . Upon the conclusion of Fleet Problem XXI in the Spring of 1940 , the entire Fleet was based in Hawaiian waters . Pearl Harbor . On the morning of 7 December 1941 , during the attack on Pearl Harbor , " Worden " lay in a nest alongside destroyer tender " Dobbin " ( AD - 3 ) , receiving upkeep . She suffered no damage in the Japan ese attack , but one of her gunners , Quartermaster 3d Class Raymond H . Brubaker , shot down a bomber with a . 50 - caliber Browning machine gun . Within two hours of the commencement of the attack , " Worden " had gotten underway and was proceeding to the open sea . Although , in the operational plans for the attack , Japanese submarines were supposed to attack American ships as they emerged from Pearl Harbor , their attempts to carry out the mission failed . The danger of enemy submarines , however , did exist ; and purported submarine sightings proliferated . " Worden " picked up a submarine contact at 1240 — well over three hours after the attack by the enemy aircraft had been completed — and dropped seven depth charges . That afternoon , the destroyer joined a task force built around the light cruiser " Detroit " ( CL - 8 ) , the flagship of Rear Admiral Milo Draemel . Searching the seas southwest of Oahu , " Worden " rendezvoused with the fleet oiler " Neosho " ( AO - 23 ) and escorted her to a fueling rendezvous with Admiral Aubrey W . Fitch ' s Task Force ( TF ) 11 built around the aircraft carrier " Lexington " ( CV - 2 ) . While " Neosho " fueled the ships of TF 11 on the morning of 11 December , " Worden " assumed a screening station on " Lexington ' s " bow and the next night escorted " Neosho " away from danger when " Dewey " ( DD - 349 ) discovered what looked like a surfaced enemy submarine and went on the offensive . After having seen " Neosho " to a safe haven at Pearl Harbor , " Worden " returned to the open sea on 14 December as part of the covering force moving toward Wake Island . The Wake Island Relief Expedition was recalled on the morning of 22 December ; and the island fell two days before Christmas . 1942 . " Worden " returned to patrol and escort operations in the Hawaiian Islands ; and , while thus engaged with the " Lexington " task force , twice dropped depth charges on suspected enemy submarine contacts off Oahu on 16 January 1942 and again six days later . Detached from TF 11 on the last day of the month , " Worden " left Pearl Harbor on 5 February to escort the seaplane tender " Curtiss " ( AV - 4 ) and the fleet oiler " Platte " ( AO - 24 ) , via Samoa and the Fiji Islands , to New Caledonia , and reached Noumea on 21 February . Three days later , when the merchantman SS " Snark " struck a mine in Bulari Passage , " Worden " went to her assistance , passing a tow line to the sinking ship and pulling her clear of the channel entrance . " Worden ' s " medical department tended six injured men , and the ship brought the crew safely to port . Departing Nouméa on 7 March , " Worden " — in company with " Curtiss " — set course for Pearl Harbor and reached that port on the 19th . That day , the destroyer entered the navy yard there and , after her repairs had been finished , joined TF 11 on 14 April . " Worden " headed out to sea on the 15th , in company with the " Lexington " task force , bound for a rendezvous area southwest of the New Hebrides Islands , where , on 1 May , they joined Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher ' s TF 17 , built around the carrier " Yorktown " ( CV - 5 ) . On the 2d , after the two carrier task forces had fueled , " Worden " was detached to escort the fleet oiler " Tippecanoe " ( AO - 21 ) to Nouméa . In her absence , the American carriers engaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea . On 12 May — two days after she reached Nouméa — " Worden " was joined in that port by the cruisers and destroyers of the former " Lexington " task force . " Lady Lex " had succumbed to massive internal explosions and fires started during the battle . As part of that group , " Worden " put to sea on the 13th and , the following day , rendezvoused with TF 16 off Efate in the New Hebrides . Formed around the carriers " Enterprise " ( CV - 6 ) and " Hornet " ( CV - 8 ) , this force was commanded by Vice Admiral William F . Halsey . Battle of Midway . TF 16 reached Pearl Harbor on the 26th . " Worden " sailed on 28 May with TF 16 — the force now under the command of Rear Admiral Raymond A . Spruance , who had replaced Halsey . Later , TF 17 — formed around the hurriedly repaired and replenished " Yorktown " — rendezvoused with Spruance ' s force to the north of Midway Island . " Worden " screened " Enterprise " and " Hornet " throughout the Battle of Midway from 4 to 6 June 1942 . " Worden " returned to Pearl Harbor on the 13th and was soon assigned to the screen of a revitalized TF 11 , built around the newly repaired " Saratoga " ( CV - 3 ) . The destroyer escorted Saratoga as she sailed to Midway and flew off reinforcement groups of Army and Marine Corps aircraft before returning to the Hawaiian Islands for training . On 9 July , " Worden " headed for the South Pacific with " Saratoga ' s " task force but was temporarily detached on the 21st to escort " Platte " to Nouméa , reaching that port four days later . While " Platte " took on her vital cargo to replenish ships of the carrier task force , " Worden " patrolled the harbor entrance . On the 28th , " Worden " and " Platte " got underway to rejoin " Saratoga " . En route on the first night out , " Worden " sighted signal lights in the darkness . She soon took on board 36 survivors of the sunken Army transport " Tjinegara " which had been torpedoed on the 25th by the Japanese submarine I - 169 and sunk about 75 miles southwest of Nouméa . " Worden " returned to the " Saratoga " group to the south of the Fiji Islands on the following day , when the carrier forces joined marine - laden troop transports that had sailed from Wellington , New Zealand , for the invasion of the Solomon Islands . Her stay with the carrier was brief , for the destroyer was soon detached to escort the fleet oiler " Cimarron " ( AO - 22 ) to Nouméa , where she landed the " Tjinegara ' s " survivors on 1 August . " Worden " caught up with TF 16 on 3 August and , shortly before daybreak on the 7th , was screening " Saratoga " as the carrier launched air strikes against Japanese positions on Guadalcanal and Tulagi preparatory to the landings . Battle of the Eastern Solomons . For the next two weeks , " Worden " operated with " Saratoga " south of the Solomons protecting supply and communication lines leading to Guadalcanal . During the Battle of the Eastern Solomons , " Worden " screened the flattop as she launched air strikes in company with " Enterprise " to sink the Japanese carrier " Ryūjō " and damage the seaplane tender " Chitose " . Less than a week later , however , Japanese submarine I - 26 torpedoed " Saratoga " and put her out of action , necessitating a trip to the mainland United States for repairs . " Worden " screened " Saratoga ' s " retirement via Tongatapu in the Tonga Islands to Pearl Harbor , arriving there on 23 September . Five days later , she sailed with two other destroyers — screening the battleship s " Idaho " ( BB - 42 ) and " Pennsylvania " ( BB - 38 ) — for the west coast of the United States . She reached San Francisco , California on 4 October but departed again a week later with " Gansevoort " ( DD - 608 ) to accompany " Idaho " to Puget Sound where they arrived on the 14th . " Worden " soon returned south to San Francisco and later joined Dewey in screening Nevada during her post - repair trials in the San Pedro - San Diego area . Grounding . On 27 December 1942 , " Worden " sailed from San Francisco to support the occupation of Amchitka Island in the Aleutian Islands . She reached Dutch Harbor , Alaska , on New Year ' s Day 1943 and , on 12 January , was guarding the transport " Arthur Middleton " ( AP - 55 ) as that transport put the preliminary Army security unit on the shores of Constantine Harbor , Amchitka Island . The destroyer maneuvered into the rock - edged harbor and stayed there until the last men had landed and then turned to the business of clearing the harbor . A strong current , however , swept " Worden " onto a pinnacle that tore into her hull beneath her engine room and caused a complete loss of power . " Dewey " passed a towline to her stricken sister and attempted to tow her free , but the cable parted , and the heavy seas began moving " Worden " — totally without power — inexorably toward the rocky shore . The destroyer then broached and began breaking up in the surf ; Comdr . William G . Pogue , the stricken destroyer ' s commanding officer , ordered abandon ship ; and , as he was directing that effort , was swept overboard into the wintry seas by a heavy wave that broke over the ship . Pogue was among the fortunate ones , however , because he was hauled , unconscious , out of the sea . Fourteen of his crew drowned . " Worden " , herself , was a total loss . Her name was struck from the Navy list on 22 December 1944 . " Worden " earned four battle star s for her World War II service .