USS Allen M . Sumner ( DD - 692 ) USS " Allen M . Sumner " ( DD - 692 ) , the original " Allen M . Sumner " - class destroyer , was named for Allen Melancthon Sumner , a USMC captain , who was killed in action during World War I . " Allen M . Sumner " was laid down on 7 July 1943 at Kearny , N . J . , by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company ; launched on 15 December 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . Allen M . Sumner , Captain Sumner ' s widow ; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 26 January 1944 , Commander Norman J . Sampson in command . Service history . World War II . 1944 . The destroyer was fitted out at the New York Navy Yard until 3 March when she got underway for shakedown training in the waters around Bermuda . She returned to New York on 8 April and commenced post - shakedown availability . Repairs were completed on 3 May , and the warship stood out of New York bound for Norfolk , Va . She arrived there the following day and began two months of duty as a training platform for destroyer nucleus crews . The warship headed north on 5 July and arrived back at New York the next day . Following a five - week availability at the navy yard there , " Sumner " put to sea on 12 August , bound ultimately for the Pacific . Along the way , she conducted antisubmarine warfare and antiair warfare exercises , stopped briefly at Norfolk , and transited the Panama Canal on 29 August . The destroyer stayed overnight at San Diego on 7 and 8 September before continuing on to Hawaii . She arrived in Pearl Harbor on 14 September and began five weeks of exercises in the Hawaiian operating area . Her stay in Hawaii lasted until 23 October when she steamed out of Pearl Harbor in company with , bound for duty in the western Pacific with the Fast Carrier Task Force . Steaming via Eniwetok , the destroyer entered Ulithi lagoon on 5 November . " Sumner " remained at Ulithi until 19 November at which time she departed the atoll to join Task Group ( TG ) 38 . 4 at sea . After rendezvousing with the carriers , she accompanied them to waters near Yap Island whence the flattops launched air strikes on the 22nd before reentering Ulithi that same day . The destroyer remained there for 5 days and then returned to sea , bound for newly invaded Leyte in the Philippines . She arrived in San Pedro Bay on the 29th and began patrolling Leyte Gulf . That duty — punctuated intermittently by air alerts — lasted until the evening of 2 December when " Sumner " set course for Ormoc Bay in company with and . Reports from American aircraft earlier that day had indicated that an enemy reinforcement convoy was entering the bay that night , and the three warships were sent to destroy it . Just after 2300 that night , the destroyers suffered the first of many air attacks when a Mitsubishi Ki - 46 " Dinah " — a fast , twin - engine , reconnaissance plane — dropped a bomb which near - missed " Sumner " about 30 yards from the ship ' s starboard bow , pierced her hull with fragments , and started a fire on board . Bomb fragments also wounded one officer and 12 men . Air attacks continued ; but , just after midnight , the three destroyers made surface radar contact on a pair of Japanese destroyers later identified as and . Less than 10 minutes into the battle , " Kuwa " succumbed to the combined fire of the two destroyers , and the wrecked and burning mass began to sink . " Take " , however , evened the score just as " Sumner " and " Cooper " joined " Moale " in firing on the remaining Japanese warship . One of her torpedoes slammed into " Cooper " amidships , broke that American destroyer ' s back , and sank her almost immediately . Less than half of " Cooper " s crew managed to get off the ship . Most of those were later rescued — but by PBY Catalina s rather than by " Cooper " s division mates who were still being subjected to heavy shore battery fire and air raids . Any attempt at rescue by " Sumner " and " Moale " would have made them virtually stationary targets . At about 0145 on the 3rd , the two remaining American warships began retirement from Ormoc Bay and set a course for San Pedro Bay where they arrived later that day . " Sumner " spent the next nine days in San Pedro Bay undergoing upkeep and repairing the minor damage that she had suffered in the action at Ormoc Bay . Though the area was subjected to intermittent air raids throughout that period , " Sumner " recorded only one , long - range — in excess of 9 , 000 yards ( 8 km ) — approach by an enemy aircraft on the 6th . On 12 December , she departed San Pedro Bay and joined the screen of TG 78 . 3 , bound for the landings on Mindoro Island . That task group constituted Rear Admiral Arthur D . Struble ' s Mindoro Attack Group . Although the group came under air attack during the transit , " Sumner " escaped damage . On 15 December , she moved in with the close covering group to participate in the preinvasion shore bombardment , and the subsequent landings went forward against negligible opposition . Some enemy aircraft attempted to attack the invasion force , and " Sumner " joined " Moale " and in splashing an enemy light bomber . On the following day , the destroyer departed Mindoro to return to Leyte where she arrived on the 18th . Between 26 and 29 December , the warship escorted a resupply echelon to Mindoro and back to San Pedro Bay . 1945 . On 2 January 1945 , the destroyer stood out of San Pedro Bay , bound for the invasion of Luzon at Lingayen Gulf in the screen for the cruisers and battleships of Vice Admiral Jesse B . Oldendorf ' s Bombardment and Fire Support Group ( TG 77 . 2 ) . Early on 6 January , " Sumner " moved into Lingayen Gulf to support minesweeping operations . Around noon , her unit came under air attack by " kamikaze s " . The first plane retreated in the face of a heavy antiaircraft barrage while the second attacker hovered just out of range as a decoy to mask a run in by a third suicider . The latter plane dove on " Sumner " strafing as he came . He swooped in out of the sun on the destroyer ' s port bow and crashed into her near the after stack and after torpedo mount . The warship lost 14 men killed and 19 injured . Extensive damage required her to retire from the gulf and join the heavy units of TG 77 . 2 . Nevertheless , " Sumner " remained in action with that unit and supported the Lingayen operation until 14 January . On that day , she began a long and somewhat circuitous voyage back to the United States for repairs . She arrived at Manus in the Admiralties on 18 January and remained there for nine days . She got underway again on 27 January in company with and , after stopping at Majuro en route , arrived in Pearl Harbor on 6 February . She departed Oahu the next day and arrived at Hunters Point , Calif . , on 13 February to begin repairs . Her renewal work was completed on 10 April and , four days later , she began duty training prospective destroyer crews along the west coast . Just over three months later , on 17 July , she was relieved of training duty and departed San Francisco to return to the western Pacific . The destroyer arrived at Oahu on the 23rd and began three weeks of training operations out of Pearl Harbor . On 12 August , " Summer " stood out of Hawaii to return to the war zone . However , when she was two days out , the Japanese capitulated . Nevertheless , the warship continued her voyage west . Following a two - day stop at Eniwetok , she got underway again on 21 August and , six - days later , rendezvoused with TG 38 . 3 in Japanese waters . After some three weeks of postwar patrols , first with TG 38 . 3 and later with TG 38 . 1 , the destroyer put into Tokyo Bay on 16 September . She remained there only six days before getting underway for the Marianas on the 22nd . The ship reached Saipan three days later but soon resumed her voyage back to the United States arriving on the west coast in October and assuming duty as a training platform for prospective destroyer crews . 1946 to 1952 . These operations continued until May 1946 when the destroyer departed the west coast , bound for the Central Pacific to support Operation Crossroads , the atomic bomb tests conducted at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands . At the conclusion of that assignment late that summer , she returned to her former west coast duty . On 23 February 1947 , " Sumner " began an extended cruise to the Far East which included visits to Australia , the Marianas , the Philippines , China , and Japan before her return to the west coast for an overhaul and subsequent local operations . That duty continued until early in 1949 at which time the ship was reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet . She transited the Panama Canal in mid - April and arrived in Hampton Roads , Va . , on the 20th . Between the spring of 1949 and the spring of 1953 , the destroyer conducted normal peacetime operations out of Norfolk . That routine was broken only by a tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea with the 6th Fleet between November 1950 and March 1951 . Otherwise , she cruised along the eastern seaboard and in the West Indies conducting training — particularly in antisubmarine warfare . 1953 to 1966 . On 24 April 1953 , the destroyer stood out of Norfolk , bound for her only assignment in the war zone during the Korean War . Steaming by way of the Mediterranean Sea , the Suez Canal , and Indian Ocean , " Sumner " arrived in Yokosuka , Japan , early in June . After 10 days in port , she joined Task Force ( TF ) 77 in the Sea of Japan and began two months of duty as a plane guard and antisubmarine screening ship for the fast carriers while they sent their aircraft against targets in North Korea . While she was assigned those tasks , the armistice of 27 July ended the Korean War . Following a tour of duty with TF 95 patrolling the southern coast of Korea and a brief stop at Yokosuka , the warship headed back to the United States via the Pacific , the west coast , and the Panama Canal . She arrived back in Norfolk on 27 October . Over the next eight years , " Sumner " alternated east coast and West Indies operations with seven deployments to European waters . During the first two — conducted in the fall of 1954 and the summer of 1955 , respectively — she visited northern European waters to participate in exercises with units of other NATO navies . The third European deployment — to the Mediterranean — came in July 1956 . During that four - month assignment , the Suez crisis erupted , and " Sumner " supported the evacuation of American citizens from Egypt at Alexandria . On the fourth deployment of the period , she returned to northern European waters in September and October 1957 . In February 1958 , she embarked upon another deployment to the Mediterranean that lasted until July . After a period of normal east coast operations , the destroyer once again headed toward the " middle sea " in February 1958 . That tour of duty differed from those preceding in that " Sumner " was assigned to independent duty in the Persian Gulf and in the western portion of the Indian Ocean . She returned to the United States on 30 August and began a year of normal operations in the western Atlantic . In September 1960 , the warship voyaged to the Mediterranean once more and again served on independent duty in the Persian Gulf and in the western Indian Ocean . She returned to the United States on 19 April 1961 and , on 17 May , began a fleet rehabilitation and modernization overhaul during which her antisubmarine warfare capabilities were improved and updated . " Sumner " completed her overhaul on 2 January 1962 and resumed her schedule of east coast operations alternated with Mediterranean cruises . Between March and September 1962 , she served with the 6th Fleet . Soon after her return to American waters , President John F . Kennedy declared a " quarantine " of Cuba in response to the siting of offensive Russian missiles on that island . " Sumner " was one of the first warships to take up station off Cuba in October 1962 . At the successful conclusion of that operation , she resumed normal duty out of Mayport , Fla . That employment — including frequent duty as school ship for the Fleet Sonar School — continued through 1963 and into 1964 . In June and July 1964 , the destroyer made a brief deployment to the Mediterranean for a midshipman cruise . Upon her return to the western hemisphere , she resumed normal duty out of Mayport . In the spring of 1965 , political unrest in the Dominican Republic took her to the waters around that troubled island . Upon concluding that assignment , the destroyer returned to Mayport and resumed operations out of that port . In October , she embarked upon another deployment in the Mediterranean . After a routine tour of duty with the 6th Fleet in the " middle sea , " " Sumner " returned to Mayport on 8 March 1966 and began 11 months of operations out of her home port which included duty as a support ship for the Gemini 10 space shot in July . Vietnam . On 7 February 1967 , the destroyer departed Mayport on her way to her first and only deployment to the Vietnam war zone . Steaming via the Panama Canal and Hawaii , she arrived in Yokosuka , Japan , on 14 March . Four days later , she got underway for the coast of Vietnam . On her first tour in the Gulf of Tonkin , " Sumner " served as " shotgun " ( screening ship ) for while the nuclear guided missile cruiser served on positive identification radar advisory zone duty in the gulf . She was relieved of that assignment on 5 April to participate in Operation Seadragon , the interdiction of communist waterborne logistics operations . That assignment lasted until the 11th , when she joined the screen of for a voyage to Sasebo , Japan . She remained at Sasebo from 15 to 22 April before heading back to the Gulf of Tonkin again in company with " Hancock " . Upon her return to Vietnamese waters , " Sumner " moved inshore with to resume " Sea - dragon " duty and , later , to provide shore bombardment support for marines engaged in Operation Beau Charger , a combined waterborne and airborne amphibious assault conducted near the demilitarized zone late in May . At the end of May , she rejoined the fast carriers on Yankee Station and screened them until 10 June when she resumed " Seadragon " duty . Her work closer to the Vietnam coast lasted for 12 days . On the 22nd , she departed Vietnamese waters and set a course for Kaohsiung Taiwan , where she visited from 26 June to 2 July . Departing Kaohsiung on the latter day , " Sumner " called at Hong Kong from 7 to 9 July . On the 11th , she returned to the coast of Vietnam and began a nine - day gunfire support mission . Leaving Vietnamese waters on the 20th , the destroyer made a six - day stop at Subic Bay in the Philippines from 22 to 28 July before returning to the gunline from 30 July to 1 August . She then began her voyage back to the United States ; stopped at Yokosuka , Hawaii , and Acapulco , in Mexico ; transited the Panama Canal on 7 September , and reached Mayport on 10 September . Post - Vietnam . The destroyer resumed normal operations out of Mayport in October . Throughout 1968 , she cruised the waters of the West Indies , frequently providing support for the encircled naval base at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . Similar duty carried her through the first four months of 1969 . In May , she voyaged to England and northern European waters to participate in a NATO review celebrating the 20th anniversary of the alliance . On the 22nd , she headed for the Mediterranean and a normal tour of duty with the 6th Fleet . She concluded that assignment at Mayport on 10 October . Following 10 months of normal operations put of Mayport , " Sumner " embarked upon the final Mediterranean deployment of her career on 27 August 1970 . The destroyer returned to Mayport on 28 February 1971 and briefly resumed normal duty out of her home port . On 1 July 1971 , she was reassigned to duty as a Naval Reserve training ship . In mid - August , she moved to Baltimore , Md . , where she began her Naval Reserve training duties . That employment remained her assignment until 15 August 1973 at which time " Sumner " was decommissioned at Philadelphia . On 16 October 1974 , she was sold to the Union Minerals & Alloy Corp . for scrapping . Awards . " Allen M . Sumner " earned two battle star s during World War II , one during the Korean War , and two during the Vietnam War .