USS McKee ( DD - 575 ) USS " McKee " ( DD - 575 ) was a " Fletcher " - class destroyer , the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Hugh W . McKee . " McKee " was laid down 2 March 1942 by Consolidated Steel Corp . , Orange , Tex . ; launched 2 August 1942 , sponsored by Mrs . Richard A . Asbury , cousin of Lieutenant McKee ; and commissioned 31 March 1943 , Commander J . J . Greytak in command . Service history . 1943 . After shakedown off Guantanamo Bay , " McKee " departed Norfolk , Va . on 6 July 1943 for the Pacific in company with . Transiting the Panama Canal , the ships sailed into Hawaiian waters 24 July for a 3 - month training period . Ordered to join Task Force 53 ( TF 53 ) in the South Pacific , " McKee " arrived New Hebrides on 4 November , but was diverted to help cover a convoy retiring from newly invaded Bougainville Island in the Solomon Islands . During heavy air attacks the night of the 8th " McKee " ' s 20 mm guns splashed two enemy planes , the second after it had released a torpedo which passed beneath the ship . Refueling at Florida Island 10 November she guarded carriers for a successful air strike against the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul , New Britain . The following afternoon the enemy lost over 50 planes in a retaliatory strike against the retiring ships . " McKee " accounted for one Mitsubishi G4M " Betty " . On 12 November , she at last reported to TF 53 , now en route for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands . She screened the larger combatant ships off Tarawa from 19 November - 7 December , then withdrew to the Ellice Islands . 1944 . On 1 January 1944 , she steamed into Pearl Harbor to prepare for the invasion of Kwajalein scheduled for 31 January . On station that date she bombarded adjoining Enubuj and provided close fire support . Screening and bombardment assignments continued until 3 February , when she began two escort missions to Guadalcanal terminating at Efate , New Hebrides . " McKee " sortied with TF 37 on 15 March , and participated with its battleship s 5 days later in the diversionary shelling of Kavieng , New Ireland . The destroyer next covered the initial landings on Humboldt Bay , New Guinea on 23 April , and then escorted resupply convoys to the various beachheads of the Hollandia operation . In May and June , she prepared in the Solomons and the Marshall Islands for the invasion of the Marianas . She sortied from Eniwetok on 17 July with Task Group 53 . 18 ( TG 53 . 18 ) . Scheduled fire commenced on the 21st in Agana Bay , Guam , as 3rd Marine Division went ashore . Lying close enough offshore to see pillbox es and trenches , " McKee " delivered close support fire through 4 August , when she retired with a group of carriers to New Hebrides . The need for an intermediary base and airfield for the recapture of the Philippines led to the bombardment and seizure of Morotai in the Moluccas beginning on 15 September . Meeting only light opposition , " McKee " and her force soon sailed back to Humboldt Bay , a staging area for Leyte . By mid - October , over 700 vessels were underway to see the 6th Army safely ashore . On 20 October , as " McKee " approached her designated area in Leyte Gulf , two natives paddled out from Samar . Their information enabled the ship to destroy two camouflaged landing barges , a tug , and an ammunition dump . That same night she departed with a convoy of LSDs for Humboldt Bay . A series of new convoy missions brought " McKee " to San Francisco , California on 15 November . 1945 . On 10 January 1945 , she sailed for Ulithi where she joined the Fast Carrier Task Force ( then TF 58 ) on 7 February for strikes against the Japanese home islands . The task force ' s planes struck Tokyo on 16 , 17 , and 25 February , hitting Iwo Jima in between , in raids so destructive and successful that the enemy failed to retaliate against the carriers or their screen . They returned a mouth later for strikes , beginning on 18 March , against Kyūshū to reduce airborne resistance to the Okinawa landings set for 1 April . This raid encountered much resistance as " kamikaze s " managed to penetrate the combat air patrol and antiaircraft fire to reach the formation . This time , " McKee " found pilots to rescue , numbers of live targets for her antiaircraft guns , and submarine contacts for two depth charge runs . Air attacks increased in intensity beginning 6 April as this force of the 5th Fleet sought to protect the Okinawa invasion force against a fanatically resistive enemy . On the 13th , while " McKee " patrolled on picket duty , four planes made runs on her . She splashed one and badly damaged another . The third crashed 50 feet ( 15 m ) off her starboard bow , while the fourth missed her and crashed into . Three days later she shot down an A6M Zero attempting to crash her . On 21 April , she bombarded Manimi Daito Shima . At the end of the month TG 58 . 1 retired to Ulithi for a 9 - day replenishment and rest period . Once underway again " McKee " s carriers struck Kyūshū on 13 May , then followed an alternating pattern against the enemy in his home islands and on Okinawa . Meanwhile , 28 May , " McKee " joined Admiral William Halsey ' s 3rd Fleet . Eight days later , a typhoon with winds reaching 110 knots ( 200 km / h ) threatened to be more damaging than the Japanese . Skillful seamanship brought " McKee " through with only minor damage . Repaired and overhauled at Leyte , she joined TG 38 . 1 on 9 July off the Japanese coast . On the 30th , along with six other destroyers , she made the closest penetration of Japanese home waters up to that time as they swept into Suruga Wan to shell an aluminum plant and railroad yards at Shimizu , Honshū . Despite the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , and rumors of peace , airstrikes continued against the Tokyo area until 0900 15 August , when Japan capitulated . The day before the official ceremony on board , " McKee " turned homeward . She escorted to Eniwetok . then steamed to Pearl Harbor where she joined TG 11 . 6 bound for the east coast . " McKee " arrived Charleston , S . C . , on 16 October , decommissioned there on 25 February 1946 , and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet . " McKee " was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 October 1970 . She was sold on 2 January 1974 and broken up for scrap . Awards . " McKee " received 11 battle star s for World War II service .