USS Goldsborough ( DD - 188 ) USS " Goldsborough " ( DD - 188 / AVP - 18 / AVD - 5 / APD - 32 ) was a " Clemson " - class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II . She was the second Navy ship named for Rear Admiral Louis M . Goldsborough ( 1805 – 1877 ) . " Goldsborough " was launched 20 November 1918 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company , Newport News , Virginia ; sponsored by Miss Lucetta Pennington Goldsborough , daughter of R . Adm . Goldsborough ; commissioned at Norfolk , Virginia 26 January 1920 , Commander Francis M . Robinson in command . 1920 - 1940 . " Goldsborough " joined Division 25 , Squadron 3 , U . S . Atlantic Fleet , departing Norfolk 25 February 1920 for training at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , and returning to New York 1 May 1920 for maneuvers and tactics off the New England Coast . She stood out of Hampton Roads 1 September 1920 on a practice cruise in the Gulf of Mexico , returning to Norfolk 10 October for operations along the seaboard to New York until 5 January 1921 when she sailed to join the combined Battle Fleet off Cuba ; thence she steamed through the Panama Canal to Callao , Peru , and back to Guantanamo Bay for further battle practice before return to Norfolk 27 April . She entered Philadelphia Navy Yard 28 April for inactivation and decommissioned 14 July 1922 . She was redesignated AVP - 18 15 November 1939 . She was converted in the New York Navy Yard , recommissioned 1 July 1940 ; and redesignated AVD - 5 on 2 August 1940 . " Goldsborough " departed New York 12 August 1940 , to tend amphibious planes on Neutrality Patrol in waters ranging from Puerto Rico , Cuba , and the United States Virgin Islands , to Trinidad , British West Indies . She returned to Norfolk 23 January 1941 for repairs ; conducted a cruise to the coast of Mexico and returned ( 3 March - 3 April ) , then served the Patrol Wing Support Force , Patrol Squadrons , U . S . Atlantic Fleet , at NS Argentia , Newfoundland ; Reykjavík , Iceland ; and Gungnat Bay , Greenland . She arrived at Norfolk from Greenland 13 October 1941 for repairs , and then proceeded to Seamour Bay , Galapagos Islands , arriving 23 December 1941 . Here she tended amphibious patrol planes of Patrol Squadron 3 , sometimes steaming down the coast of the Americas as far as Valparaíso , Chile , with time - out for service as a simulated target in Panama Bay . World War II . She transited the Panama Canal 17 June 1942 and entered Trujillo Bay , Honduras , the 21st with Commander Patrol Squadron 3 embarked to direct operations of the squadron on special patrols in conjunction with other naval units attempting to locate Axis submarine bases . After being contacted by patrol planes , a party from " Goldsborough " boarded Honduran merchant ship " Laguna " 25 June , and Honduran merchant ship " Racer " the following day . Both were turned over to British authorities at Belize . On 3 July " Goldsborough " departed Puerta Castilla for Portland Bight , Jamaica . Here she tended aircraft on special patrols in the protection of convoys between Cuba and the Panama Canal . She arrived at the Charleston Navy Yard from Jamaica 2 October 1942 for repairs , followed by gunnery practice in the Chesapeake Bay . " Goldsborough " departed Norfolk 30 October 1942 to escort seaplane tender " Pocomoke " ( AV - 9 ) to Panama and seaplane tender " Albemarle " ( AV - 5 ) to aviation patrol bases at San Juan , P . R . ; Trinidad , B . W . I . ; and Bermuda , Fla . She returned to Norfolk 30 November 1942 to spend the following year as escort for " Albemarle " while carrying men , aeronautical cargo , and aircraft of Fleet Air Wings of the U . S . Atlantic Fleet to Guantanamo Bay ; Trinidad ; Bermuda ; San Juan ; and Recife , Brazil . She returned to Norfolk on the last of these missions 5 September 1943 . After patrol with " Core " ( CVE - 13 ) antisubmarine warfare task group 5 October - 15 November 1943 , " Goldsborough " was redesignated DD - 188 on 1 December 1943 . On 4 December 1943 , " Goldsborough " sailed with the " Core " task group . Near midnight of 2 January 1944 , she made visual contact with a surfaced U - boat off the Azores , fought through heavy seas in an attempt to ram amidships . . She just missed the U - boat ' s stern as it slid under the sea . After two depth charge attacks , " Goldsborough " lost contact . She then screened " Core " to Norfolk 18 January and proceeded to New York Navy Yard for voyage repairs . Thereafter , she escorted " Aucilla " ( AO - 56 ) to Trinidad , returning to Norfolk as escort of " Nitro " ( AE - 2 ) then entered the Charleston Navy Yard on 21 February 1944 for conversion to a high speed transport , and redesignation as APD - 32 , 7 March 1944 . " Goldsborough " departed Charleston 10 April and reached Pearl Harbor , via the Panama Canal and San Diego , 9 May for amphibious assault training in Hanalei and Kawaihae Bay . She sailed 29 May to rendezvous with a transport force proceeding via Ulithi to arrive off the invasion beaches of Saipan 15 June 1944 . An aerial bomb exploded 400 yards to starboard as she assisted in repelling a raid of enemy dive bombers . The following day she landed the 2d Company , 1st Battalion , 2d Marines , just south of Charon Kanoa . During the next 5 weeks she escorted supply and troop convoys between the Marshall Islands and Saipan , taking time out for direct gunfire support of troops on Saipan the nights of 29 June and 7 July . She departed Saipan 28 July to train Underwater Demolition Team 4 in Hawaiian waters , then joined a Beach Demolition Task Group that sailed from Manus , Admiralty Islands , 12 October to destroy enemy facilities and installations in the vicinity of the proposed invasion beaches of eastern Leyte as well as on the entrance islands of Leyte Gulf . The afternoon of 18 October 1944 she poured a withering fire into concealed enemy positions at Dulag , covering underwater demolition team s headed for the shore . Two 75mm . shells straddled the high speed transport ; and a third hit her number one stack , killing 2 and wounding 16 men . She screened the battleship s and cruiser s , carrying out a relentless bombardment through the night of the 19th and supporting troops that launched the invasion the morning of 20 October 1944 . She departed the following day to embark troops at Noemfoor , Schouten Islands , landing them on the beaches at Tolasa , Leyte , 18 November 1944 . She again arrived off Noemfoor 19 December for transport of troops to Mios Woendi , Padiados Islands , and thence via Morotai with six merchant ships escorted into Leyte Gulf 6 January 1945 . Her next assignment was patrolling the entrance of Lingayen Gulf . She dispatched a medical team to damaged " Gilligan " ( DE - 508 ) 12 January , picked up two survivors , and then put her rudder full left as she opened fire on a suicide plane which just missed the stern of " Seusens " before crashing into the sea . " Goldsborough " continued patrol in the Gulf and off San Fabian until 18 January 1945 . After voyage repairs at Ulithi , " Goldsborough " landed troops at Iwo Jima ( 3 – 6 March ) , thence via the Marianas to Tulagi harbor in the Solomons and back to Ulithi , where she joined transports bound for Okinawa . She arrived off Okinawa 11 April , fought off aerial raids near Hagushi beaches the following day and rescued a Navy fighter pilot whose plane was damaged in aerial combat . She departed Okinawa 14 April for voyage repairs at Guam , returning 15 May 1945 to patrol off Hagushi beaches until the 31st . " Goldsborough " was then routed via the Marianas , Marshalls , and Pearl Harbor to San Pedro , California , where she arrived 1 July 1945 . Decommissioning . Redesignated again as destroyer ( DD - 188 ) 10 July , she decommissioned there 11 October 1945 . Her name was struck from the Navy List 24 October 1945 and she was sold for scrapping 21 November 1946 to Hugo Nuef Corporation , New York , New York . " Goldsborough " received five battle star s for service in World War II .