USS Melvin ( DD - 680 ) USS " Melvin " ( DD - 680 ) , a " Fletcher " - class destroyer , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant , junior grade John T . Melvin ( 1887 – 1917 ) . " Melvin " was laid down on 6 July 1943 by Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company , in Kearny , N . J . ; launched on 17 October 1943 , sponsored by Miss Gertrude C . Bailey , grandniece of Lieutenant Melvin ; and commissioned on 24 November 1943 , with Commander Warner R . Edsall in command . Service history . 1944 . Following shakedown off Bermuda , " Melvin " sailed for the Pacific on 1 February 1944 . Arriving Pearl Harbor on 4 March , she got underway for Majuro five days later and for the next month conducted antisubmarine patrols and participated in the blockade of enemy - held atolls in the Marshall Islands , returning to Pearl Harbor on 2 May . There , she underwent intensive fire support training and 31 May departed with Task Group 52 . 17 ( TG 52 . 17 ) for Saipan . Approaching that island on the night of 13 / 14 June , she sank . A few hours later , while steaming off northern Saipan , she again engaged an enemy vessel , this time a merchantman , which burned brightly for a few hours before sinking . For the next 23 days , she provided counter - battery fire , conducted antisubmarine patrols , damaging an enemy submarine on the 17th , served as call fire ship for Marines on the beach , escorted ships from Eniwetok , and participated in the bombardment of Tinian . On 8 July , " Melvin . " sailed for Eniwetok , where on the 18th , she sailed in the screen of the transports carrying troops to Guam , off the coast of which she screened transports and oiler s from 22 July to 7 August . After preparations at Guadalcanal , from 8 – 21 September she took part in the capture and occupation of the southern Palau Islands , then joined TG 33 . 19 for the unopposed occupation of Ulithi . After escorting LST s to Hollandia , she arrived at Manus Island to stage for the invasion of Leyte , Philippines . Now with TG 79 . 11 , " Melvin " sailed on 11 October toward the Philippines in the screen of the landing craft to be used in the assault on Dulag . Soon after midnight on 20 October , she entered Leyte Gulf and took up her assigned screening station between Dinagat and Hibuson Island s , carrying out similar screening patrols for the next 4 days . In the early hours of the 25th , she joined in the torpedo attack by Destroyer Squadron 54 ( DesRon 54 ) , which opened the Battle of Surigao Strait . Assigned with and to the Eastern Attack Group , " Melvin " began launching torpedoes soon after 0300 , scoring hits on , which exploded and sank at about 0338 . Following their attack , the destroyers retired up the Dinagat coast to Hibuson , from where they witnessed the deadly barrage from Admiral Jesse B . Oldendorf ' s battle line . 1945 . Within 48 hours , " Melvin " was en route to Hollandia , and escorting resupply convoys to the Philippines into December , when she returned to the Solomon Islands to rehearse for the assault on Luzon . She stood out of Purvis Bay , Florida Island on 25 December , escorting transports to Manus and then on to Lingayen Gulf . She arrived with her charges on 11 January 1945 , and provided illumination and fire support as well as screening services . Continuing to cover the landings until the 15th , she met Japanese " kamikaze s " , as swimmers , in boats , and in planes , with equal determination . From Luzon , " Melvin " sailed south to Leyte , then to the Carolines and a new assignment , screening the Fast Carrier Task Force ( TF 38 / 58 ) . Steaming north with that force on 10 February , " Melvin " guarded the flattops as their planes raided Honshū and then provided direct air cover for the Iwo Jima campaign . On the 21st , she aided in her fight against fires and enemy planes , splashing three , and then escorted her to Eniwetok for repairs . By mid - March , she had rejoined the fast carriers at Ulithi , sailing northwest with them on the 14th to prepare the way for the Okinawa campaign . For the next 61 days , " Melvin " remained at sea , guarding the carriers , providing fire support for the troops embattled after 1 April , and patrolling on picket station . After a brief respite at Ulithi in mid - May , she returned to the Ryukyu Islands on the 24th for raids on enemy installations in those islands and on Kyūshū . Mid - June brought another brief respite from the war while the destroyer was docked in San Pedro Bay . She was underway again on 1 July as the carriers steamed north for their last deployment against Japan . In the next month and a half , the force operated off the enemy ' s homeland , shelling and bombing industrial and military centers on Honshū and Hokkaidō . " Melvin " remained with the aircraft carrier s until 10 August , when she sailed north to join TF 92 in an anti - shipping sweep and bombardment of Paramushiro . With that mission completed on the 12th , she sailed east to Adak , Alaska , where she received word of the Japanese surrender , and new orders to return to Japan for occupation duty with minesweeper s off northern Honshū . On 12 October , she departed for the United States , arriving at San Francisco on 4 November . At San Diego on 31 May 1946 , she was decommissioned and joined the Pacific Reserve Fleet . 1951 - 1954 . " Melvin " recommissioned on 26 February 1951 and sailed on 1 June for Newport , R . I . to join the Atlantic Fleet ' s DesRon 24 and bolster the 2nd and 6th Fleet s so that they could spare destroyers for the U . N . effort in South Korea . For 2½ years , she cruised off the US east coast and in the Caribbean Sea , deploying to the Mediterranean Sea from 22 April to 8 October 1952 and 22 April to 6 June 1953 . On 13 January 1954 , she again decommissioned and joined the Reserve Fleet at Charleston , South Carolina . She remained berthed there until 1960 , when she was reassigned to the Philadelphia Group , Atlantic Reserve Fleet . " Melvin " was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 December 1974 . She was sold on 14 August 1975 and broken up for scrap . Awards . " Melvin " received 10 battle star s for World War II service .