USS William D . Porter ( DD - 579 ) USS " William D . Porter " ( DD - 579 ) , a " Fletcher " - class destroyer , was a ship of the United States Navy named for Commodore William D . Porter ( 1808 – 1864 ) . " William D . Porter " was laid down on 7 May 1942 at Orange , Tex . , by the Consolidated Steel Corporation ; launched on 27 September 1942 , sponsored by Miss Mary Elizabeth Reeder ; and commissioned on 6 July 1943 , Lieutenant Commander Wilfred A . Walter in command . Possibly the unluckiest and most god forsaken ship in the entirety of the United States Navy . Atlantic service . " William D . Porter " departed Orange shortly after being commissioned . After stops at Galveston , Tex . , and Algiers , La . , the destroyer headed for Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , on 30 July for shakedown . She completed shakedown a month later and , following a brief stop at Bermuda , continued on to Charleston , S . C . , where she arrived on 7 September . " Porter " completed post - shakedown repairs at Charleston and got underway for Norfolk , Va . , at the end of the month . For about five weeks , the warship operated from Norfolk conducting battle practice with " Intrepid " ( CV - 11 ) and other ships of the Atlantic Fleet . On 12 November , she departed Norfolk to rendezvous with " Iowa " ( BB - 61 ) the following day . That battleship was on her way to North Africa carrying President Franklin D . Roosevelt to the Cairo and Teheran Conference s . " Porter " was involved in a major mishap while departing Norfolk when her anchor tore the railing and lifeboat mounts off a docked sister destroyer while maneuvering astern . The next day , a depth charge from the deck of " Porter " fell into the rough sea and exploded , causing " Iowa " and the other escort ships to take evasive maneuvers under the assumption that the task force had come under torpedo attack by a German U - boat . On 14 November , at Roosevelt ' s request , " Iowa " conducted an anti - aircraft drill to demonstrate her ability to defend herself . The drill began with the release of a number of balloons for use as targets . While most of these were shot by gunners aboard " Iowa " , a few of them drifted toward " William D . Porter " which shot down balloons as well . " Porter " , along with the other escort ships , also demonstrated a torpedo drill by simulating a launch at " Iowa " . This drill suddenly went awry when the # 3 torpedo aboard " Porter " discharged from its tube and headed toward " Iowa " . " William D . Porter " attempted to signal " Iowa " about the incoming torpedo but , owing to orders to maintain radio silence , used a signal lamp instead . However , the destroyer first misidentified the direction of the torpedo and then relayed the wrong message , informing " Iowa " that " Porter " was backing up , rather than that a torpedo was in the water . In desperation the destroyer finally broke radio silence , using codeword s that relayed a warning message to " Iowa " regarding the incoming torpedo . After confirming the identity of the destroyer , " Iowa " turned hard to avoid being hit by the torpedo . Roosevelt , meanwhile , had learned of the incoming torpedo threat and asked his Secret Service attendee to move his wheelchair to the side of the battleship , so he could see . Not long afterward , the torpedo detonated in the ship ' s wake , some 3 , 000 yards astern of the " Iowa " . " Iowa " was unhurt , but trained her main guns on " William D . Porter " out of concern that the smaller ship might have been involved in some sort of assassination plot . Following these events , the " William D . Porter " ' s captain , and her entire crew , were placed under arrest — the first time in U . S . Navy history that this had occurred . The ship and her crew were ordered to Bermuda for an inquiry into the " Iowa " affair , where the entire crew was taken into custody by waiting Marines . Lieutenant Commander Walter and several of his officers were sentenced to shore duty . Torpedoman Lawton Dawson , whose failure to remove the torpedo ' s primer had enabled it to fire at " Iowa " , was sentenced to hard labor , though President Roosevelt intervened in his case , as the incident had been an accident . A week later , " William D . Porter " returned to Norfolk and prepared for transfer to the Pacific . She got underway for that duty on 4 December , steamed via Trinidad , and reached the Panama Canal on the 12th . After transiting the canal , the destroyer set a course for San Diego , where she stopped between 19 and 21 December to take on cold weather clothing and other supplies necessary for duty in the Aleutian Islands . North Pacific campaign . On 29 December , " William D . Porter " arrived in Dutch Harbor , on the island of Unalaska , and joined Task Force 94 ( TF 94 ) . Between 2 and 4 January 1944 , she voyaged from Dutch Harbor to Adak , whence she conducted training operations until her departure for Hawaii on the 7th . The warship entered Pearl Harbor on 22 January and remained there until 1 February at which time the destroyer put to sea again to escort " Black Hawk " ( AD - 9 ) to Adak . The two ships arrived at their destination nine days later , and " Porter " began four months of relatively uneventful duty with TF 94 . She sailed between the various islands in the Aleutians chain , serving primarily as an antisubmarine escort . Commander Charles M . Keyes ( USNA ' 32 ) relieved Lieutenant Commander Walter as commanding officer of the " William D . Porter " on 30 May 1944 . On 10 June , the destroyer stood out of Attu and headed for the Kuril Islands . She and the other ships of TF 94 reached their destination early on the morning of the 13th . They started to shell their target , the island of Matsuwa , at 05 : 13 . After 20 minutes , " William D . Porter " ' s radar picked up an unidentified surface vessel , closing her port quarter at a speed in excess of 55 knots ( 100 km / h ) . Her radar personnel tentatively identified the craft as an enemy PT - type boat , and the warship ceased fire on Matsuwa to take the new target under fire . Soon thereafter , the craft ' s reflection disappeared from the radar screen , presumably the victim of TF 94 ' s gunfire . Not long afterward , the task force completed its mission and retired from the Kurils to refuel at Attu . On 24 June , the destroyer left Attu with TF 94 for her second mission in the Kurils . Following two days at sea in steadily increasing fog , she arrived off Paramushiro on the 26th . In a dense fog with visibility down to about 200 yards , she delivered her gunfire and then departed with TF 94 to return to the Aleutians . A month of training exercises intervened between her second and third voyages to the Kurils . On 1 August , she cleared Kuluk Bay for her final bombardment of the Kurils . On the second day out , an enemy twin - engine bomber snooped the task force and received a hail of fire from some of the screening destroyers . That proved to be the only noteworthy event of the mission , because the following day the bombardment was canceled due to poor weather and the enemy reconnaissance plane . " William D . Porter " dropped anchor in Massacre Bay at Attu on 4 August . After a month of antisubmarine patrol , the warship departed the Aleutians for a brief yard period at San Francisco preparatory to reassignment to the western Pacific . She completed repairs and stood out of San Francisco on 27 September . She reached Oahu on 2 October and spent the ensuing fortnight in training operations out of Pearl Harbor . On the 18th , she resumed her voyage west ; and , 12 days later , the warship pulled into Seeadler Harbor at Manus in the Admiralty Islands . She departed Manus early in November to escort " Alshain " ( AK - 55 ) via Hollandia to Leyte . Philippines campaign . Though " William D . Porter " arrived in the western Pacific too late to participate in the actual invasion at Leyte , combat conditions persisted there after her arrival in San Pedro Bay . Soon after she anchored there , Japanese planes swooped in to attack the ships in the anchorage . The first plane fell to the guns of a nearby destroyer before reaching " Porter " ' s effective range . A second intruder appeared , however , and the destroyer ' s 5 inch guns joined those of the assembled transports in bringing him to a fiery end in mid - air . For the remainder of the year , " William D . Porter " escorted ships between Leyte , Hollandia , Manus , Bougainville , and Mindoro . On 21 December , while steaming from Leyte to Mindoro , she encountered enemy air power once again . Two planes made steep glides and dropped several bombs near the convoy . The destroyer opened up with her main battery almost as soon as the enemies appeared but to no avail . Their bombs missed their targets by a wide margin , but the two Japanese aircraft apparently suffered no damage and made good their escape . Not long thereafter , four more airborne intruders attacked . " Porter " concentrated her fire on the two nearest her , one of which fell to her antiaircraft fire . The second succumbed to the combined efforts of other nearby destroyers , and the remaining two presumably retired to safety . From then until midnight , enemy aircraft shadowed the convoy , but none displayed temerity enough to attack . Before dawn the following morning , she encountered and destroyed a heavily laden , but abandoned , enemy landing barge . After completing her screening mission to Mindoro , " Porter " returned to San Pedro Bay on 26 December to begin preparations for the invasion of Luzon . For the Lingayen operation , " William D . Porter " was assigned to the Lingayen Fire Support Group of Vice Admiral Jesse B . Oldendorf ' s Bombardment and Fire Support Group ( TG 77 . 2 ) . The destroyer departed San Pedro Bay on 2 January 1945 and joined her unit in Leyte Gulf the following day . The entire group then passed south through the Surigao Strait , thence crossed the Mindanao Sea , rounded the southern tip of Negros , and then proceeded generally north along the western coasts of Negros , Panay , Mindoro , and finally , Luzon . By the time the unit reached the southwestern coast of Luzon , it came within the effective range of Luzon - based aircraft . Beginning on the morning of 5 January , enemy planes — including kamikaze s — brought the force under attack . " William D . Porter " saw no action during the first stage of those attacks , because the group ' s combat air patrol ( CAP ) provided an effective protective blanket . However , the last raid broke through the CAP umbrella at 16 : 50 and charged to the attack . " Porter " took three of those planes under fire at about 17 : 13 , but growing darkness precluded evaluation of the results of that engagement . During that raid , cruiser " Louisville " ( CA - 28 ) and escort carrier " Manila Bay " ( CVE - 61 ) suffered extensive damage from kamikaze crashes . Before dawn on the 6th , the destroyer moved into Lingayen Gulf with her unit to begin pre - invasion bombardment . Throughout the day , enemy planes made sporadic attacks upon the bombarding ships . That evening , " William D . Porter " began firing on shore batteries guarding the approaches to the landing beaches . At 17 : 38 , her attention was diverted to a lone plane ; and her antiaircraft battery brought it down handily . Twenty minutes later , a twin - engine Mitsubishi G4M " Betty " ran afoul of the destroyer ' s gunners who splashed this one neatly as well . " Porter " then returned to her primary mission , shore bombardment . After the landings on 9 January , the destroyer ' s mission changed to call fire and night harassing fire in support of the troops . Then , from 11 to 18 January , she stood off Lingayen Gulf with TG 77 . 2 to protect the approaches from incursion by enemy surface forces . On the 18th , she reentered the gulf to resume support duty for forces ashore and to contribute to the anchorage ' s air and antisubmarine defenses . On 3 February , the warship bombarded abandoned enemy barges to assure that they would not be used against the invasion force or as evacuation vehicles . She then resumed her antisubmarine and air defense role until 15 February , when she departed Lingayen Gulf to escort " Lindenwald " ( LSD - 6 ) and " Epping Forest " ( LSD - 4 ) to Guam . Battle of Okinawa . After returning briefly to Lingayen Gulf , " William D . Porter " moved on to Leyte to prepare for the assault on Okinawa . She remained at Leyte during the first half of March ; then joined the gunfire support unit attached to the Western Islands Attack Group for a week of gunnery practice at Cabugan Island . She departed the Philippines on 21 March , reached the Ryukyu Islands on the morning of the 25th , and began supporting the virtually unopposed occupation of Kerama Retto . Between 25 March and 1 April , she provided antiaircraft and antisubmarine protection for the ships in the Kerama roadstead , while performing some fire - support duties in response to what little resistance the troops met ashore on the islets of Kerama Retto . However , by the time the main assault on Okinawa began on the morning of 1 April , she had been reassigned to TF 54 , Rear Admiral Morton L . Deyo ' s Gunfire and Covering Force . During her association with that task organization , " William D . Porter " rendered fire support for the troops conquering Okinawa , provided antisubmarine and antiaircraft defenses for the larger warships of TF 54 , and protected minesweeper s during their operations . Between 1 April and 5 May , she expended in excess of 8 , 500 rounds of 5 inch shells — both at shore targets and at enemy aircraft during the almost incessant aerial attacks on the invasion force . During that period , she added five additional plane kills to her tally . The constant air raids — launched from Kyūshū and Formosa — prompted the Americans to establish a cordon of radar picket ships around Okinawa , and it was to this duty that " William D . Porter " switched in early May . Between 5 May and 9 June , she stood picket duty , warned the fleet of the approach of enemy air raids , and vectored interceptors out to meet the attackers . She brought down another enemy plane with her own guns ; and fighters under her direction accounted for seven more . On 10 June 1945 , " William D . Porter " fell victim to a unique — though fatal — kamikaze attack . At 08 : 15 that morning , an obsolete Aichi D3A " Val " dive bomber dropped unheralded out of the clouds and made straight for the warship . The destroyer managed to evade the suicide plane , and it splashed down nearby her . Somehow , the explosive - laden plane ended up directly beneath " Porter " before it exploded . Suddenly , the warship was lifted out of the water and then dropped back again , likely caused by the force of the underwater blast . She lost power and suffered broken steam lines . A number of fires also broke out . For three hours , her crew struggled to put out the fires , repair the damage , and keep the ship afloat . The crew ' s efforts were in vain ; and , 12 minutes after the order to abandon ship went out , " William D . Porter " heeled over to starboard and sank by the stern . Miraculously , her crew suffered no fatal injuries . The warship ' s name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 July 1945 . " William D . Porter " received four battle star s for her service in World War II .