USS Turner ( DD - 648 ) USS " Turner " ( DD - 648 ) , a " Gleaves " - class destroyer , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Captain Daniel Turner . Commission . " Turner " was laid down on 16 November 1942 at Kearny , New Jersey , by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co . ; launched on 28 February 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . Louis E . Denfeld ; and commissioned on 15 April 1943 at the New York Navy Yard , Lieutenant Commander Henry S . Wygant in command . Convoy duty . " Turner " completed outfitting at the New York Navy Yard and then conducted shakedown and antisubmarine warfare training out of Casco Bay , Maine until early June . On the 9th , she returned to New York to prepare for her first assignment : a three - day training cruise with the newly commissioned aircraft carrier . Returning to New York on 22 June , she departed again the next day on her first real wartime assignment , service in the screen of a transatlantic convoy UGS 11 . First , she sailed with a portion of that convoy to Norfolk , Virginia , arriving that same day . On the 24th , the convoy departed Hampton Roads and shaped a course eastward across the Atlantic . After an uneventful voyage , she escorted her convoy into port at Casablanca , French Morocco , on 18 July . She departed with return convoy GUS 10 on the 23rd and arrived back in New York on 9 August . Later that month , she was in the screen of a convoy to Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , making a brief stop at Hampton Roads along the way . On the return trip , she rendezvoused with the British carrier and accompanied her to Norfolk . Anti - submarine duty . During the first two weeks of September , " Turner " conducted anti - submarine warfare ( ASW ) training at Casco Bay , Maine , and then returned to New York to prepare for her second transatlantic voyage . On 21 September , the destroyer headed south to Norfolk . She arrived there on the 23rd and , the following day , headed out across the Atlantic with her convoy . After an 18 - day passage , during which she made one depth charge attack on a sound contact , " Turner " arrived at Casablanca on 12 October . Four days later , she departed again and headed for Gibraltar to join another convoy . The warship reached the strategic base on the 17th and , after two days in port , stood out to join the screen of convoy GUS 18 . On the night of 23 October , " Turner " was acting as an advance ASW escort for the convoy when she picked up an unidentified surface contact on her SG radar . At 19 : 43 , about 11 minutes after the initial radar contact , " Turner " s lookouts made visual contact with what proved to be a German submarine running on the surface , decks awash , at about distance . Almost simultaneously , " Turner " turned hard to starboard and opened fire with her , Bofors , and Oerlikon guns . During the next few seconds , the destroyer scored one hit on the U - boat ' s conning tower as well as several 40 - and 20 - mm hits there and elsewhere . The submarine began to dive immediately and deprived " Turner " of any opportunity to ram her . However , while the U - boat made her dive , " Turner " began a depth - charge attack . She fired two charges from her port K - gun battery , and both appeared to hit the water just above the submerged U - boat . Then , as the destroyer swung around above the U - boat , " Turner " rolled a single depth charge off her stern . Soon after the three depth charges exploded , " Turner " crewmen heard a fourth explosion , the shock from which caused the destroyer to lose power to her SG and SD radar s , to the main battery , and to her sound gear . It took her at least 15 minutes to restore power entirely . Meanwhile , she began a search for evidence to corroborate a sinking or regain contact with the target . At about 20 : 17 , she picked up another contact on the SG radar — located about off the port beam . " Turner " came left and headed toward the contact . Not long thereafter , her bridge watch sighted an object lying low in the water . Those witnesses definitely identified the object as a submarine which appeared to be sinking by the stern . Unfortunately , " Turner " had to break contact with the object in order to avoid a collision with another of the convoy ' s escorts . By the time she was able to resume her search , the object had disappeared . " Turner " and the destroyer escort remained in the area and conducted further searches for the submarine or for proof of her sinking but failed in both instances . All that can be said is she probably heavily damaged an enemy submarine and may have sunk her . No conclusive evidence exists to support the latter conclusion . The attacked sub may have been " U - 190 " . Destruction . On the 24th , the two escorts rejoined the convoy , and the crossing continued peacefully . When the convoy divided itself into two segments according to destination on 4 November , " Turner " took station as one of the escorts for the Norfolk - bound portion . Two days later , she saw her charges safely into port and then departed to return to New York where she arrived on 7 November . Following ten days in port , the warship conducted ASW exercises briefly at Casco Bay before returning to Norfolk to join another transatlantic convoy . She departed Norfolk with her third and final convoy on 23 November and saw the convoy safely across the Atlantic . On 1 January 1944 , near the end of the return voyage , that convoy split into two parts according to destination as " Turner " s previous one had done . " Turner " joined the New York - bound contingent and shaped a course for that port . She arrived off Ambrose Light late on 2 January and anchored . Early the following morning , the destroyer suffered a series of shattering internal explosions . By 06 : 50 , she took on a 16° starboard list ; and explosions , mostly in the ammunition stowage areas , continued to stagger the stricken destroyer . Then , at about 07 : 50 , a singularly violent explosion caused her to capsize and sink . The tip of her bow remained above water until about 08 : 27 when she disappeared completely taking with her 15 officers and 123 men . After nearby ships picked up the survivors of the sunken destroyer , the injured were taken to the hospital at Sandy Hook , New Jersey . A United States Coast Guard Sikorsky HNS - 1 flown by Lieutenant Commander Frank A . Erickson — the first use of a helicopter in a life - saving role — flew two cases of blood plasma , lashed to the helicopter ' s floats , from New York to Sandy Hook . The plasma saved the lives of many of " Turner " s injured crewmen . " Turner " s name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 8 April 1944 .