USS Wren ( DD - 568 ) USS " Wren " ( DD - 568 ) was a " Fletcher " - class destroyer of the United States Navy , named for Sergeant Solomon Wren , USMC , who took part in Lieutenant Stephen Decatur ' s raid into Tripoli harbor during the First Barbary War . " Wren " was laid down on 24 April 1943 at Seattle , Wash . , by the Seattle - Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp . ; launched on 29 January 1944 , sponsored by Mrs . Jeanne F . Dockweiler ; and commissioned on 20 May 1944 , Commander Edwin A . McDonald in command . World War II . Following commissioning , " Wren " operated out of San Diego , Calif . conducting shakedown training . In August , she reported for duty with the Northern Pacific Force in the Aleutian Islands . Her duties there consisted largely of patrol and escort work between the islands of the Aleutian chain . She did , however , participate in four shore bombardment missions against the Japanese Kuril Islands with Task Force 92 ( TF 92 ) between November 1944 and April 1945 . Her first action occurred on 21 November 1944 when she participated in the shelling of Matsuwa . Her second and third bombardment missions took her to Paramushiro on 5 January and 18 February 1945 , respectively . Her final bombardment of the Kurils took place on 15 March 1945 , and Matsuwa again served as the target . On 19 April , she stood out of Kulsk Bay , bound for Hawaii . The destroyer arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 25th but soon continued her voyage to the Western Carolines . She stopped at Ulithi Atoll until 17 May at which time she left the lagoon on her way to join in the six - week old Okinawa campaign . The ship served in the Ryukyus from 21 May to 18 June , performing antisubmarine patrols and standing antiaircraft radar picket watch . She came under air attack on several occasions but sustained no major hits while ending the careers of at least four of her airborne attackers . Departing Okinawa on 18 June , she arrived at Leyte in the Philippines three days later and remained there until 1 July when she joined units of TF 38 for the final series of carrier - based aerial attacks on Japan . " Wren " spent the remaining weeks of the war at sea with TF 38 supporting the carriers while their planes struck the Japan ese homeland . On 26 August , " Wren " entered Tokyo Bay with other elements of the 3d Fleet to begin the occupation of Japan and to prepare for the formal surrender ceremony at which she was present on 2 September . She departed Japan that same day and , during the next month , visited Iwo Jima and Eniwetok . The warship returned to Tokyo on 13 October for a visit of just over a month . She departed Japan on 18 November and arrived at Oahu on the 28th . Resuming her voyage east on 1 December , she entered San Diego on the 7th . After a two - day visit , she headed — by way of the Panama Canal — for the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where she arrived on 23 December . After an inactivation overhaul at Philadelphia , " Wren " moved to Charleston , S . C . , late in March 1946 . On 13 July 1946 , the destroyer was placed out of commission at Charleston . 1951 – 1963 . A little over five years later , on 7 September 1951 , " Wren " was placed back in commission at Charleston , Commander George M . Hagerman in command . For the next two years , she operated along the eastern seaboard and in the West Indies . During the latter months of 1951 , she conducted standardization and vibration tests under the auspices of the Bureau of Ships and its research facility at Carderock , Md . , the David Taylor Model Basin . She returned to Charleston in December and , throughout 1952 and for the first eight months of 1953 , performed normal operations and training in the western Atlantic . In August 1953 , " Wren " was reassigned to Destroyer Division 61 ( DesDiv 61 ) for deployment to the Far East . She stood out of Norfolk , Va . on 28 August and transited the Panama Canal on 2 September . After stops at San Diego , Pearl Harbor , and Midway , she arrived in Yokosuka on 3 October . A week later , she put to sea to join Task Force 77 ( TF 77 ) in the Sea of Japan . The fast carriers conducted air operations there and in the Yellow Sea , and " Wren " provided screen and plane - guard services to them between 10 October and 26 November . Following that assignment , she joined the Australian carrier HMAS " Sydney " and provided similar services until mid - December when she returned to Japan at Sasebo for the Christmas holidays . The destroyer rejoined TF 77 on 3 January 1954 and cruised with the carriers until the 17th when she became a unit of TF 95 . She served along the Korean coast carrying out cease - fire surveillance missions with TF 95 until 1 February , when she returned to Sasebo to prepare for the voyage home . She departed Japan on 11 February and , taking a westward route through the Indian and Atlantic Oceans , completed a circumnavigation of the globe when she arrived in Norfolk on 9 April . For the remainder of her active career , " Wren " operated out of Norfolk periodically making overseas deployments . Among her 2nd Fleet activities were midshipman summer cruises , some to northern European ports and others to West Indian and American ports . She also served with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea on several occasions . Annual " Springboard " exercises took her to Puerto Rico , Cuba , and Panama each spring . During her 1957 Mediterranean deployment , the ship served with the Mid East Force in the Indian Ocean and participated in Operation Crescent with units of the Pakistani Navy . " Wren " appeared in the 1959 movie , " Operation Petticoat " while on a port call to Naval Station Key West , Florida . Transferred to the Naval Reserve Force , the Wren was later used by a Naval Reserve unit in Houston , Texas and based in Galveston , Texas in the early 1960s . During this time , it supported Naval Reserve activities and made weekend ASW training trips in the Gulf of Mexico . In December 1963 , after almost a decade of duty with the Atlantic Fleet , " Wren " was placed out of commission , in reserve . She spent the next 11 years in the Reserve Fleet , berthed at the Naval Inactive Ship Facility at Naval Station Philadelphia . Her name was struck from the Navy list in December 1974 and on 22 October 1975 , she was sold to the North American Smelting Co . , Wilmington , Del . , for scrapping . Awards . " Wren " earned three battle star s during World War II . The " Wren " had 3 blade props instead of 4 making her much faster than most " Fletcher " class destroyers . 39 . 9 knots instead of the 35 listed above which was the standard " Fletcher " speed . ( Per Raymond Collins BT2 USS Wren 1952 - 56 )