USS Benner ( DD - 807 ) USS " Benner " ( DD / DDR - 807 ) was a of the United States Navy , named for Marine Second Lieutenant Stanley G . Benner ( 1916 – 1942 ) , who was killed during the Battle of Guadalcanal . " Benner " was laid down on 10 July 1944 at Bath , Maine , by the Bath Iron Works Corp . ; launched on 30 November 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . Gertrude A . Benner , Lt . Benner ' s mother ; and commissioned at Boston , Massachusetts , on 13 February 1945 , Commander John Munholland in command . 1945 . Intended for service as a " picket ship " in the Pacific , " Benner " received radar and other modifications at the Boston Navy Yard between 13 February and 21 March . She then sailed for Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , on the 28th , arriving there on the 31st . The destroyer conducted four weeks of shakedown exercises , including gunnery , antiaircraft , and anti - submarine warfare ( ASW ) drills . On 29 April , she steamed to Gonaïves Bay , Haiti , for ASW training on a friendly " bottomed out " submarine and conducted a shore bombardment exercise off Culebra Island the following day . After her rendezvous with in Windward Passage on 3 May , the warships sailed north on an antisubmarine patrol . Although " Benner " s crew dropped 11 depth charge s on a possible submarine contact later that day , they later determined it to be a false contact . She parted company with HMS " Reaper " on the 7th and sailed independently for Boston , arriving on 8 May for three weeks of post - shakedown availability . Following those repairs , the destroyer steamed to Norfolk , Virginia , where she joined and in preparation for sailing to the Pacific . " Benner " got underway for the Panama Canal on 2 June , transited the canal on the 8th , and arrived at San Diego , California on 15 June . After minor repairs , she sailed for Hawaii on the 18th , mooring in Pearl Harbor on 23 June . " Benner " spent the rest of the month conducting training missions — antiaircraft , fighter - direction , radar jamming , and motor - torpedo - boat ( MTB ) evasion exercises — in preparation for deployment to the waters off Japan . In company with , escorting in Task Unit 12 . 5 . 3 ( TU 12 . 5 . 3 ) , " Benner " departed Pearl Harbor on 12 July . During the transit across the central Pacific , the destroyers screened " Wasp " as that aircraft carrier launched air strikes against Wake Island on the 18th . After a brief pause at Eniwetok to refuel the following day , the task unit joined Task Force 38 ( TF 38 ) just south of the Japanese home islands on 26 July . " Benner " screened in Task Group 38 . 3 ( TG 38 . 3 ) during 28 July air strikes against enemy shipping at Maizuru and on 30 July against the Tokyo - Nagoya area . While a typhoon canceled further attacks scheduled for early August , the task group refueled and then moved into position for strikes against northern Honshū on 8 August . Taking up a picket position — about 50 miles ( 90 km ) southwest of TF 38 — with , and , " Benner " watched as unidentified aircraft approached their position all day . Although most of the enemy aircraft retreated before friendly combat air patrol ( CAP ) , some low - flying Japanese aircraft sneaked under the CAP ' s protective umbrella to attack the destroyers . At 14 : 54 , a single Aichi B7A 1 " Grace " carrier attack plane dove over " Hank " , passed across the formation , and , despite withering anti - aircraft fire , banked around to crash into " Borie " . Large fires broke out immediately , especially in her forward superstructure around the bridge ; and the three other destroyers spent the next two hours fending off four more enemy attacks . After " Borie " s damage control teams got the fires under control , " Benner " spent a fruitless evening searching the water for " Borie " crewmen lost over the side . The destroyers continued screen operations between 10 and 15 August before TF 38 retired southeast of Honshū to await developments in the wake of news of the Japanese surrender . Detached on 24 August , " Benner " cruised off Nagoya to provide an aircraft homing beacon for flights to Tokyo from Okinawa . On 4 September , she joined a task group formed around and cruised off Honshū as that carrier launched POW - relief flights through 9 September . Following leave and upkeep in Tokyo , the destroyer steamed to the Marshall Islands at the end of September — for a week ' s upkeep alongside a tender — before returning to Japan for three more months of occupation duty . 1946 – 1948 . Departing Tokyo on 3 January 1946 , " Benner " spent the next three months cruising in the $ 3 , visiting Guam , Saipan , and several Philippine Islands before finally sailing for home on 25 March . She arrived at San Diego , by way of Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor , on 11 April . After several months of limited operations out of San Diego , the destroyer received an overhaul at Terminal Island between 29 August and 23 November before returning to San Diego in preparation for an overseas deployment . On 6 January 1947 , " Benner " departed San Diego in company with and arrived at Hong Kong , via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok , on the 30th . Tensions in the region were high , and " Benner " spent eight months cruising the East China Sea in support of the ultimately futile American efforts to resolve the Chinese civil war . She visited the Chinese ports of Shanghai , Tsingtao , and Chinwangtao , as well as the Korean port of Pusan , before sailing for San Diego , where she arrived on 8 October . Following 11 months of local operations in California waters , the destroyer departed San Diego for China on 1 October 1948 — mainly to escort the Pacific Mobile Striking Force to Tsingtao and to help monitor the withdrawal of Soviet forces from North Korea — before returning home on 23 December . 1949 – 1956 . She remained in California waters , conducting routine operations , into the spring of 1949 . During this period , the warship was reclassified as a radar picket destroyer and was redesignated DDR - 807 on 18 March 1949 . Reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet on 1 May , " Benner " got underway the following day , transited the Panama Canal on 12 May and arrived at her new home port of Newport , R . I . , on the 23rd . The destroyer operated out of there on normal peacetime duty with Destroyer Division 102 ( DesDiv 102 ) , conducting routine exercises in Narragansett Bay and making three reserve training cruises over the summer , visiting New London ; Poughkeepsie ; New York City ; Washington , D . C . ; and Charlottetown , Prince Edward Island , Canada . In October and November , " Benner " participated in a bilateral amphibious landing exercise with units of the Canadian Navy on the coast of Labrador . After another overhaul at Norfolk and a fourth reserve training cruise — this one to the West Indies between 24 February and 14 April 1950 — " Benner " embarked on her first Mediterranean deployment on 2 May . The destroyer visited Lisbon , Portugal ; the island of Elba ; and Naples , Italy ; before steaming to La Spezia on 21 June . Following the North Korean invasion of South Korea on the 25th , " Benner " put to sea in case hostilities broke out in Europe . She operated in the eastern Mediterranean for the next three months — visiting such ports as Istanbul , Turkey ; Beirut , Lebanon ; and Argostoli , Greece — before coming home to Newport on 10 October . Over the next five years , the destroyer made three more of these Mediterranean cruises ( 20 March to 4 October 1951 , 2 October 1952 to 4 February 1953 , and 4 May to 28 September 1954 ) . In the course of these missions , she visited ports in Spain , France , Italy , Greece , and Turkey . During the latter deployment , she also visited Algiers and Tangier in North Africa . Following each of these overseas tours , the destroyer made short reserve and midshipmen training cruises to the West Indies — mainly visiting Guantanamo Bay , Cuba ; Culebra Island , Puerto Rico ; and Kingston , Bermuda . The warship also conducted several NATO training exercises during this period . On 26 August 1952 , she voyaged above the Arctic Circle east of Greenland to take part in Operations " Mainbrace " and " Longstep " before sailing to the Mediterranean in October of that year . Following an overhaul at Philadelphia in early 1955 , " Benner " participated in 14 to 27 March Operation " LantFlex 1 " — an amphibious exercise off Newfoundland — and then made another summer midshipmen cruise , visiting Málaga , Spain ; Plymouth , England ; and Guantanamo Bay , Cuba ; before returning to Newport on 4 August . In October and November , the destroyer sailed south to the Gulf of Mexico , conducting air defense exercises with land - based aircraft and making port visits to Corpus Christi , Texas , and Port Everglades , Florida . After the holiday leave period , " Benner " proceeded to the New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn for a modernization overhaul . This yard work , which included repairs to hull and frame damage she suffered during a late December hurricane , took place between 6 January and 21 May 1956 . 1956 – 1959 . Reassigned to the Pacific Fleet in the spring of 1956 , " Benner " departed Newport on 9 June and sailed south , transiting the Panama Canal on 18 June and mooring at her new home port at Long Beach , California , on the 28th . Assigned to DesDiv 91 on 26 August , the destroyer spent the next six months conducting refresher and type training in and around the San Diego operating area . On 12 March 1957 , the warship departed Long Beach on a regular deployment to the $ 3 for operations with the 7th Fleet . The destroyer crossed the Pacific via the southern route , stopping at Suva in the Fiji Islands between 25 and 27 March and at Melbourne , Australia , from 2 to 7 April . Proceeding northward , she refueled at Manus and Guam before arriving at Yokosuka , Japan , on 24 April . As one of the major functions of the 7th Fleet was to patrol the Taiwan Strait — part of the American commitment to secure Taiwan against communist attack — " Benner " spent most of this deployment screening carrier operations in this part of the region . While there , she visited Kaohsiung , Keelung , and Hong Kong as well as occasionally steaming north for upkeep at Yokosuka , Japan . The destroyer sailed for home on 27 August and arrived at Long Beach on 10 September . Following a short leave period , " Benner " conducted local operations in the Long Beach area , maneuvers that were punctuated by tender availability and upkeep periods . Between 21 November 1957 and 10 March 1958 , she underwent a routine overhaul at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard . This was followed by six weeks of refresher training in preparation for another Far East deployment . Underway on 29 April , " Benner " first proceeded to Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands . There , she participated in " Operation Hardtack I " — a 35 - detonation series of atmospheric nuclear tests designed to evaluate new types of weapons , the effects of high - altitude explosions , and the new Polaris missile warhead prototype . " Benner " s assignments during these tests included weather observations , search and rescue , and scientific equipment recovery . She also performed air operations center functions at Bikini Atoll . The destroyer then departed Eniwetok on 1 August and arrived in Yokosuka five days later . After several weeks of screening carrier operations off Okinawa , " Benner " received orders to proceed south to Taiwan on 25 August . Two days previously , Chinese Communist artillery on the mainland had opened fire on Chinese Nationalist forces on the islands of Quemoy and Matsu . " Benner " joined what eventually became a six - carrier task force in the region and , over the next eight weeks , helped to protect supply convoys to the beleaguered Nationalist garrison on Quemoy until the crisis eased . After brief stops at Yokosuka and Midway , the destroyer returned to Long Beach on 21 November . The warship spent the next seven months in the Long Beach area , either conducting local operations or in a tender availability and upkeep status . In June 1959 " Benner " visited Portland , Oregon as part of the Portland Rose Festival fleet . " Benner " commenced her third western Pacific tour on 17 July 1959 , visiting Hong Kong , Kaohsiung , and Yokosuka in between tours on the Taiwan Strait patrol . She returned home to Long Beach for upkeep on 26 November . 1960 – 1970 . The destroyer continued this pattern of operations — routine exercises off the California coast in preparation for a deployment to the Orient which was then followed by an upkeep or overhaul period at Long Beach — for the next four and a half years . This pattern was broken in June 1962 , when " Benner " entered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for an eight - month Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization ( FRAM ) overhaul . During this yard period , the destroyer received new sonar and anti - submarine warfare ( ASW ) weapons , including a Drone Anti - Submarine Helicopter . In addition , she was reclassified from a radar picket destroyer to a destroyer and was redesignated DD - 807 on 15 November 1962 . She returned to normal operations in May 1963 and , after a series of ASW exercises intended to test her DASH equipment , deployed to the western Pacific again on 20 February 1964 . During this cruise , " Benner " participated in a Southeast Asia Treaty Organization ( SEATO ) exercise in the Philippines in May and a Taiwan Strait patrol in June before returning home to Long Beach on 12 August for an extended period of leave , upkeep , and local operations . In April 1965 , " Benner " and DesDiv 232 joined for seven weeks of refresher training in San Diego waters . Early in June , she embarked 35 midshipmen for a two - week training cruise in the Puget Sound area . In July , during a five - day shoot on the San Clemente Island range , " Benner " qualified for both day and night shore bombardment . On 12 August , the destroyer got underway for a six - month tour of duty in the Far East . After a two - week stop in Hawaii for an ASW readiness evaluation , the warship continued on to Japan , mooring at Yokosuka on 23 September . On 12 October , " Benner " joined TF 77 for patrol and surveillance duties off the coast of Vietnam . Over the next three days , the destroyer carried out naval gunfire support missions off Quang Ngai before conducting a search and rescue ( SAR ) patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin . Following a week of recreation in Hong Kong , the warship set out for Taiwan on 10 November , and then operated out of Kaohsiung on the Taiwan Strait patrol . On 5 December , she proceeded north for a joint ASW operation with ships of the Republic of Korea ( ROK ) Navy and a visit to Chinhae , before steaming to Sasebo for the Christmas holidays . On 3 January 1966 , the warship sailed south to Taiwan to conduct four weeks of patrols in the Taiwan Strait . Returning north to Yokosuka on 9 February , she got underway for home on the 18th , and moored at Long Beach on 3 March . After six weeks of leave and upkeep , " Benner " underwent a regular three - month overhaul at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard . Returning to Long Beach on 19 July , she spent the next three months preparing for her next Far Eastern cruise . After leaving Long Beach on 4 November , " Benner " participated in a joint American and Canadian ASW operation in Hawaiian waters where she was awarded the " Golden Plunger Award " for " sinking " during the exercise . Continuing on to Yokosuka late that month , the destroyer proceeded to the Gulf of Tonkin and , on 24 December , joined " Operation Sea Dragon " , a logistics interdiction effort in the coastal waters of North Vietnam . " Benner " first action of the tour came when she fired upon three small logistic craft on 6 January 1967 , damaging one before they escaped into coastal inlets . The next afternoon , the warship destroyed an enemy anti - aircraft battery . After a short period drydocked in at Subic Bay , the destroyer sailed to Hong Kong for rest and recreation on the 31st . She returned to routine " Sea Dragon " operations on 8 February . The tempo of operations increased on 26 February when " Benner " joined up with and for a bombardment of the North Vietnamese coast . During that day , the warship fired seven missions — including two counter - battery actions — and received 116 enemy rounds close aboard . Although the destroyer was straddled twice by fire from Hon Matt Island , her counter - battery fire managed to silence the enemy guns . Over the next week , the destroyer conducted another 36 fire missions — firing off 1 , 281 5 - inch rounds in the process — against enemy targets . After a two - week tender availability at Sasebo , Japan , " Benner " served a short stint in the Taiwan Strait before returning to Long Beach on 12 May . She spent the remainder of the year in leave , upkeep , and local operations . " Benner " began 1968 with ASW refresher training out of San Diego and then deployed once more to Far Eastern waters . Arriving at Yokosuka on 29 May , she headed south to Vietnamese waters and duty as a naval gunfire support ship . Her first opportunity for action came on 26 June when she fired almost 900 5 - inch rounds at Viet Cong troops in the Vũng Tàu area in support of " Operation Game Warden " . Over the next three weeks , the destroyer also fired in the Demilitarized Zone ( DMZ ) and in I Corps territory . Steaming south for rest and recreation , " Benner " crossed the equator — and observed the traditional " shellback " initiation rites — to visit Port Swettenham in Malaysia between 26 and 29 July . Rejoining TF 77 on 1 August , she participated in ASW Exercise " Swift Move " before steaming to Sasebo on the 7th . Following two weeks of repairs alongside , " Benner " returned south for carrier screen duties in the Gulf of Tonkin . She finally returned home to Long Beach , via Yokosuka , on 9 November . In a change of pace , " Benner " got underway on 3 January 1969 to provide three days of target services to submarine s , , and . Following these exercises , she conducted local operations out of San Diego until moving into the Long Beach Naval Shipyard for an overhaul on 29 January . The destroyer received upgrades to her sonar system during this repair period . Returning to duty on 4 June , the crew then took " Benner " through a 10 - week refresher training cycle . On 30 July , a fuel oil fire broke out in the destroyer ' s after fireroom . Although the space was temporarily abandoned owing to the flames , the fire was brought under control and extinguished shortly thereafter . Under closer inspection , the damage proved light and new electrical cables and fixtures were installed at San Diego by 3 August . Returning to local operations the next day , " Benner " suffered another accident when she lost a remote - controlled DASH helicopter at sea . Following a series of inspections and a tender availability , " Benner " departed Long Beach on 8 October for another Far Eastern deployment . After brief stops at Pearl Harbor , Midway , and Yokosuka , she arrived on " Yankee Station " on 13 November . With the prohibition against attacks on targets in North Vietnam in effect since 1 November , the destroyer ' s duties were limited to plane guard and ASW screen operations to protect TF 77 ' s carriers as they attacked targets in Laos , South Vietnam , and Cambodia . Aside from brief diversions to cover — the primary sea - air rescue ship in the Tonkin Gulf — " Benner " spent the majority of this cruise screening on " Yankee Station " . After " Benner " returned home on 9 April , she fell victim to the drastic defense budget cuts of the time . Reporting to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton on 29 August , the warship began inactivation preparations on 1 September . " Benner " was decommissioned on 20 November 1970 , and her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 February 1974 . Although authorized for sale to South Korea on 7 February 1974 , the offer was refused on 14 March ; and she was sold for scrapping to General Metals of Tacoma , Inc . , Tacoma , Washington , on 18 April 1975 . Awards . " Benner " received one battle star for her World War II service and five battle stars for service in the Vietnam War .