USS Monaghan ( DD - 354 ) USS " Monaghan " ( DD - 354 ) was the last ship built of the " Farragut " - class destroyer design . She was named for Ensign John R . Monaghan . " Monaghan " was laid down on 21 November 1933 at the Boston Navy Yard , and launched on 9 January 1935 . She was sponsored by Miss Mary F . Monaghan , niece of Ensign Monaghan , and commissioned on 19 April 1935 , with Commander R . R . Thompson in command . During the next few years " Monaghan " operated primarily in the North Atlantic , training US Navy personnel who served in World War II . " Monaghan " was present during the Pearl Harbor raid on 7 December 1941 . She participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway in 1942 . Monaghan was sunk in a typhoon east of the Philippines in 1944 . Pearl Harbor . On 7 December 1941 , " Monaghan " was a ready duty destroyer in Pearl Harbor , and at 07 : 51 was ordered to join , who had just sunk an unidentified submarine off the entrance to Pearl Harbor . Four minutes later , before " Monaghan " could get underway , the Japanese air attack began . " Monaghan " opened fire , and at 08 : 27 was underway to join " Ward " when notified of the presence of a Ko - hyoteki class midget submarine in the harbor . " Monaghan " headed for the trespasser , rammed it glancingly , then sank it with two depth charge s . She headed on out of the harbor to patrol offshore for the next week , then joined in the attempt to relieve Wake Island , but Wake was captured by the Japan ese before " Lexington ' s " force could bring aid . Homeward bound , " Monaghan , " with and , made repeated attacks on an enemy submarine , causing it to broach and give off a large oil slick . Patrol and scouting operations out of Pearl Harbor with the " Lexington " group were followed by convoy duty to the west coast and back before Task Force 11 ( TF 11 ) , with " Monaghan " screening " Lexington , " sortied from Pearl Harbor 15 April 1942 , bound for the South Pacific . With the Japanese threatening Port Moresby , Papua New Guinea , sea lines of communication to Australia and New Zealand were in peril , and the Navy moved quickly and decisively to block so critical a threat . First action came 4 May when planes from hit Japanese invasion shipping at Tulagi and Gavutu . The two carrier forces now combined upon word that an enemy carrier group had entered the Coral Sea . The opening action of the victory there came 7 May , when American search planes spotted the Japanese occupation force , several transports guarded by the light carrier . " Lexington " and " Yorktown " planes sank " Shōhō " . Next day , before the major engagement by aircraft from both American and Japanese heavy carriers , " Monaghan " was ordered away from formation to transmit important messages , thus preserving radio silence in the main body . She was then ordered on to search for survivors of and , sunk on the 7th by the Japanese . Since the position of the sinking had been erroneously reported , " Monaghan " was unable to carry out a rescue , and sailed on with messages for Nouméa before rejoining TF 16 in time to return to Pearl Harbor 26 May . Battle of Midway . Two days later , " Monaghan " was underway for the decisive battle of the war , the Battle of Midway . The Japanese sailed for the capture of the Midway Atoll with a complex battle plan , but U . S . naval intelligence revealed the plan to American commanders , who thus knew when and where to find the Carrier Striking Task Force of the Japanese attackers . Although outnumbered , the Americans sank four enemy carriers in air actions beginning on the night of 3 June , along with a heavy cruiser . Through the first two days , " Monaghan " screened , then late on the morning of 5 June was ordered out to rescue men of a downed seaplane . At 1830 she reached the side of badly damaged " Yorktown , " joining the group of destroyers struggling to save the carrier and guard her from further damage . A Japanese submarine penetrated next day and sank both " Yorktown " and , the carrier remaining afloat another 16 hours before she succumbed . " Monaghan , " , and attacked and badly damaged the submarine . Other Pacific operations . After the victory , the force returned to Pearl Harbor on 13 June . " Monaghan " was sent north to aid in countering the Japanese threat in the Aleutians . Damaged by collision in the heavy northern fog , " Monaghan " repaired at Dutch Harbor and Pearl Harbor , then escorted a convoy to the west coast en route to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard at Vallejo , CA for a repair period . " Monaghan " returned to the South Pacific at Nandi , Fiji , 17 November . In the harbor of Nouméa she bent her propellers on an underwater obstruction , and had to return to Pearl Harbor on her hastily replaced port screw for permanent repairs , completed 21 February 1943 . Once more in the Aleutians , " Monaghan " joined TG 16 . 69 a scouting force built around cruiser s and . On 26 March this group engaged the Japanese in the Battle of the Komandorski Islands . Although outnumbered , the Americans fired guns and torpedo es so effectively that the Japanese were driven away . Patrol and occasional shore bombardment missions throughout the Aleutians , along with escort missions , continued through the summer . Highlights were a radar - directed surface engagement with an unidentified target 20 June , and a chase of a Japanese submarine two days later that resulted with the submarine being driven up on rocks and abandoned . She was later identified as , engaged in evacuating troops from Kiska . After escort duty to Pearl Harbor and San Francisco , " Monaghan " sailed to San Pedro , California , to escort three new escort carriers to the Gilbert Islands operation , for which they sailed from Espiritu Santo 13 November . The escort carriers launched their planes against shore targets and protected convoys offshore through the invasion of Tarawa . Returning to the west coast on escort duty , " Monaghan " rejoined the escort carriers after extensive exercises out of San Diego , California , and prepared for the invasion of the Marshalls , during which she guarded the carriers northwest of Roi as they flew air support and strikes for the landings there . On 7 February 1944 she entered Majuro , then escorted to Kwajalein , where she joined the transport screen for the capture of Eniwetok . On the night of 21 / 22 February , she joined in an all - night bombardment on Parry Island , then spent a month on patrol and escort duty in the Marshalls . On 22 March " Monaghan " put to sea in the antisubmarine screen for the fast carriers , bound for strikes on Palau , Woleai , and Yap , returning to Majuro 6 April . The next sortie , 13 April to 4 May , was to cover the Hollandia landings , and strike at Satawan , Truk , and Ponape . After preparing at Majuro , the force now sailed for the invasion of Saipan , against which the first strikes were flown 11 June . While the fliers of TF 58 soundly defeated the Japanese in the Battle of the Philippine Sea , " Monaghan " ' s group patrolled off Saipan guarding against a possible breakthrough by the enemy . They next steamed to Eniwetok to prepare for the assault on Guam , for which they sailed 14 July , " Monaghan " again in the antisubmarine screen protecting the carriers . Assigned to cover the work of underwater demolition teams off Agat on the night of 17 / 18 July , " Monaghan " furnished harassing fire until daylight , firing again on the island during the early morning of 19 June . She continued bombardment and screening missions until 25 July when she sailed for Pearl Harbor , and an overhaul at Puget Sound . Loss in a typhoon . After training off California and Hawaii , " Monaghan " sailed for Ulithi 11 November . There she joined the escort for three fleet oilers bound for a rendezvous 17 December with TF 38 , whose planes had been striking central Luzon in support of the Mindoro invasion . The ship was expecting to refuel and probably had reduced its ballast in order to take on fuel . Typhoon " Cobra " hit before the Monaghan was ready to ride it out . Typhoon Cobra claimed 790 lives in the 3rd Fleet , and sank , , and " Monaghan " . Six men survived the " Monaghan " sinking , reportedly rescued by and / or . After drifting on a raft three days , the men reported that " Monaghan " took roll after roll to starboard , finally going over . The Typhoon Cobra tragedy , Admiral Chester Nimitz said , " represented a more crippling blow to the Third Fleet than it might be expected to suffer in anything less than a major action " . " Monaghan " received 12 battle star s for World War II service .