USS McLanahan ( DD - 615 ) USS " McLanahan " ( DD - 615 ) was a " Benson " - class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II . She was the second Navy ship named for Tenant McLanahan . " McLanahan " was laid down 29 May 1941 by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation , Shipbuilding Division , San Pedro , California ; launched 2 September 1942 ; sponsored by Mrs . Dorothy W . Howard ; and commissioned 19 December 1942 , Lieutenant Commander H . R . Hummer , in command . Service history . " McLanahan " departed San Diego , California 19 February 1943 for assignment with Destroyer Squadron 16 ( DesRon 16 ) , Atlantic Fleet . She arrived at Norfolk , Virginia 10 March and , after additional training at Casco Bay , Maine , and several coastal convoys , departed on her first transatlantic convoy , to Algeria , 28 April . She returned to the east coast 8 June , departing again for North Africa on the 11th . The destroyer arrived at Oran 21 June to prepare for Operation Husky , the invasion of Sicily . From 6 to 15 July , she , with other units of Task Force 81 ( TF 81 ) , maintained an antisubmarine - antiaircraft screen to protect the invasion forces at Gela . She then returned to escort duties in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic . During the next 9 months , her convoys suffered only three losses . In August 1943 , Lieutenant Commander N . C . Johnson took command , and on 6 November , while en route to Naples from Oran , " McLanahan " s convoy was attacked by enemy aircraft which launched rocket bombs and torpedoes at the Allied ships . " McLanahan " escaped damage , but two merchantmen and one escort were lost . On 19 December 1943 , a first birthday celebration was held for " McLanahan " in the Grand Ballroom of the St . George Hotel , Brooklyn , N . Y . On 13 May 1944 , she departed Oran for Naples to aid in the Anzio offensive . For the next month and a half she followed the advancing Allied lines up the Italian coast , providing gunfire support and ensuring the even flow of supplies . By the end of July , she had begun preparations for Operation Anvil , the invasion of southern France . She spent the first part of August off Sicily in amphibious exercises , sailing for the assault area on the 13th . By the 15th , she was in position providing fire support to the forces landing near St . Raphael . On the 18th , she joined the beachhead screen and , along the Italian and Sicilian coasts , protected the invasion forces and their supply lines from enemy aircraft and submarines . At the end of the month , she returned to Oran and continued on , a few days later , to New York , arriving there 14 September . " McLanahan " returned to the Mediterranean 21 December and on 19 January 1945 joined " " le Grande Garde " " patrol in the bombardment of the Ligurian coast from Monte Carlo to Genoa . While off San Remo , 11 February , a large caliber projectile fired by a shore battery exploded 20 to 40 feet off her port quarter . Resultant damage included , in addition to one dead and eight severely wounded , numerous holes above and at the water line and one gun out of commission . On 20 February , " McLanahan " departed for Oran . She returned to Toulon 21 March for an awards ceremony at which Rear Admiral P . Jaugard , French Navy , presented her captain , medical officer , and 12 other crewmembers with the Croix de Guerre . Her next assignment took her to Gibraltar , where , for the remainder of the war in Europe , the destroyer patrolled the Mediterranean approaches as far south as Casablanca . After the surrender at Reims , she cruised in the Tyrrhenian Sea and off north Africa and on 30 June sailed for Boston , arriving 8 July . On 14 August , " McLanahan " departed Boston , Massachusetts for the Pacific war zone , but , with receipt of news of Japan ’ s surrender , her orders were changed . She remained with the Atlantic Fleet , completing cruises to New York , New Orleans , Louisiana and Guantanamo Bay before mooring at Charleston , South Carolina , 3 November . There she joined the Inactive Fleet and decommissioned 2 February 1946 and was berthed at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 July 1971 and scrapped in 1974 . Awards . " McLanahan " earned four battle star s for World War II service .