USS Putnam ( DD - 757 ) USS " Putnam " ( DD - 757 ) , an , was the 2nd ship of the United States Navy to be named for Charles Putnam . She was built and saw action in the Pacific during World War II . She was laid down 11 July 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co . , Shipbuilding Division , San Francisco , California ; launched 26 March 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . Doana Putnam Wheeler ; and commissioned 12 October 1944 . Cdr . Frederick Hilles was in command . World War II service . Following shakedown off the Pacific Coast , " Putnam " glided beneath the Golden Gate Bridge 30 December 1944 to take her place with the Pacific Fleet . Arriving Pearl Harbor 2 January 1945 , the destroyer prepared for her first offensive operation , and got under way 29 January for the Marianas Islands , screening the transports carrying 4th and 5th Division Marines . Pausing briefly at Eniwetok , Saipan , and Tinian , the destroyer steamed from Guam 17 February in convoy en route to Iwo Jima . She arrived off Iwo Jima on D - Day ( 19 February ) with the amphibious landing and battle underway . Gunfire support ships lying off - shore kept a thunderous rain of destruction pouring on the island . " Putnam " inched in dangerously close to blast shore installations in support of the invading marines and illuminated Japanese troop concentrations at night with star shell s . On 23 February , Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal and a high - ranking Navy - Marine Corps party , after observing the initial phases of the landing , embarked in " Putnam " for transportation to Guam and a conference with Fleet Admiral Chester W . Nimitz . " Putnam " departed Guam 12 March and escorted logistics ships to Leyte in the Philippine Islands , arriving five days later . She stood out of San Pedro Bay , Philippines 27 March and escorted a transport group to Okinawa ; arriving Easter Sunday , the destroyer immediately took up anti - aircraft screening duties . After escorting a convoy to Ulithi , Putnam returned to Okinawa and was assigned a gunfire support station southwest of the island 16 April . Later assigned to a hazardous radar picket station , " Putnam " vectored Navy fighters against kamikaze s . She remained unscathed only because an unidentified American pilot heroically crashed into a kamikaze 16 June just seconds before it would have hit the destroyer . Soon after sundown the same day , a torpedo dropped from a low - flying Japanese plane struck to port and exploded her No . 2 magazine . Captain Glenn R . Hartwig , the squadron commander in " Putnam " , quickly closed . Exploding ammunition made rescue operations hazardous , but of 188 " Twiggs " survivors snatched from the sea , " Putnam " accounted for 114 . With the " cease hostilities " order of 15 August , the occupation of the Japanese home islands became the primary mission , and through the first week of September " Putnam " served as a guide and rescue destroyer for Tokyo - bound transport planes . She left her station , some 100 miles north of Okinawa , 13 September to serve in the escort for as she steamed for Wakayama , on the central island of Honshū . " Putnam " stood into Tokyo Bay 17 September , where she rode out a howling typhoon . She then made a return to Wakayama 25 September , thence to Okinawa 1 October , and then back to Wakayama . Steaming via Eniwetok 5 December , the destroyer touched at Pearl Harbor 10 December for fuel , and dropped her hook at San Diego 22 December . " Putnam " received three battle star s for World War II service . Post - war service . Standing out of San Diego 3 January 1946 , " Putnam " steamed for the New York Naval Shipyard , Brooklyn , for availability . She subsequently operated out of Newport , Rhode Island until the beginning of 1947 , when she made Pensacola , Florida , her base . Late April 1947 , Putnam called at Norfolk , Virginia , to be readied for a peacetime cruise to European waters . Putnam was one of three destroyers assigned 19 – 25 April 1948 to the United Nations mediator , Count Folke Bernadotte , to attempt to maintain peace between Arab and Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab - Israeli War . When the truce temporarily broke down " Putnam " stood into Haifa 23 July to evacuate the UN team from that port . She was thus the first U . S . Navy ship to fly the UN flag . After a brief period of decommissioned reserve status with the Atlantic Reserve Fleet , " Putnam " reactivated in October 1950 . A Mediterranean cruise took her away from Norfolk from October 1951 through 4 June 1952 . Local operations and overhaul were followed by Caribbean refresher training 21 May through 10 July 1953 . " Putnam " departed Norfolk 25 September and transited the Suez Canal 15 October , arriving Yokosuka 10 November . She operated in the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea through 11 March 1954 . Departing Midway 17 March , she touched at Pearl Harbor 21 March , called at various West Coast ports , then transited the Panama Canal and arrived Norfolk 1 May . The USS " Putnam " appears in cameo scene in the 1954 Paramount film " The Bridges at Toko - Ri " . Watch for her in the scene where " Mike Forney " played by Mickey Rooney and " Nestor Gamidge " played by Earl Holliman are transferred via bosun ' s chair from the deck of the carrier " Savo " , ( actually the ) , to the port side deck of the " Putnam " . A round of training cruises and deployments ( " Lantflex " 1 – 55 ) took " Putnam " from the East Coast to the Mediterranean and the Caribbean . Her 1955 and 1956 Mediterranean deployments were followed by NATO North Atlantic exercises late 1957 . A September 1958 Mediterranean deployment was followed by overhaul at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard . Summer 1959 found " Putnam " participating in the first operation " Inland Seas " during which she steamed in all five of the Great Lakes . Between 1960 and 1969 the destroyer made nine annual deployments to the Mediterranean , interspersed with northern European operations , coast - wise trips , and visits to the Caribbean . In June 1962 she entered the New York Naval Shipyard for a FRAM II conversion , which was completed in March 1963 . On 6 August 1973 , " Putnam " was decommissioned and struck from the Navy List . Within a year she was sold for scrapping .