USS Warrington ( DD - 383 ) USS " Warrington " ( DD - 383 ) — a — was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lewis Warrington , who was an officer in the Navy during the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812 . He also temporarily served as the Secretary of the Navy . The second " Warrington " was laid down on 10 October 1935 at Kearny , New Jersey , by the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company ; launched on 15 May 1937 ; sponsored by Miss Katherine Taft Chubb ; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 9 February 1938 , Commander Leighton Wood in command . After several years of service in the Pacific theater during World War II , " Warrington " was sunk by the 1944 Great Atlantic hurricane off the Bahamas on 13 September 1944 . Inter - war period . Following a shakedown cruise to the West Indies in April – May , the destroyer returned to New York City on 24 May , underwent post - shakedown availability , and then conducted tactical training off Cape Cod and the Virginia Capes . She also participated in maneuvers with the boats of Submarine Division 4 ( SubDiv 4 ) in waters near New London . In October , she headed south for refresher training in Cuban waters . On 4 December , the warship headed north to Newport , Rhode Island , where she became a unit of DesDiv 17 , DesRon 9 . " Warrington " operated along the East Coast and made a cruise to the Caribbean in a task group built around and to participate in Fleet Problem XX . In mid - February 1939 , she reported to Key West to serve as an escort for , the cruiser in which president Franklin D . Roosevelt and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William D . Leahy embarked to observe the concluding phase of the 1939 annual Fleet exercise . The destroyer concluded that assignment upon her arrival at Charleston , South Carolina , on 3 March where Roosevelt and Leahy left " Houston " to return to Washington . After three months of operations along the coast between New York and Norfolk , the destroyer moored at Fort Hancock , New Jersey , on the morning of 9 June to embark King George VI and Queen Mary of Great Britain for passage to Manhattan . " Warrington " departed Norfolk on the 26th , transited the Panama Canal on 3 July and arrived in her new home port , San Diego , soon thereafter . Assigned to the Battle Force , United States Fleet , the destroyer conducted operations along the California coast for the next nine months . At the beginning of April 1940 , she departed San Diego with the ships of Battle Force to participate in Fleet Problem XXI , conducted in Hawaiian waters . Though nominally retaining San Diego as her home port , " Warrington " was based at Pearl Harbor for most of her remaining peacetime service . From April 1940 to April 1941 , she returned to the West Coast only twice : once in June 1940 for repairs after the conclusion of the Fleet exercise and again in late November and early December of that year . After 12 months of training out of Pearl Harbor , frequently with submarines engaged in torpedo practice , " Warrington " departed Hawaii on 18 April 1941 to augment the forces engaged in the so - called " Neutrality Patrol " . After passing back through the Panama Canal on 7 May , she continued on to Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . There , she became part of a patrol force composed of , , and . Her area of operations encompassed the eastern Caribbean and the western Atlantic from the West Indies south to about 12° south latitude . In addition to patrolling , she later began intermittent escort duties ; and , in fact , her last assignment during the " Neutrality Patrol " period consisted of a voyage in company with to escort SS " Acadia " from Recife , Brazil , to Puerto Rico . She arrived at San Juan on 3 November ; then headed north for a two - day visit at Norfolk ; and entered the Charleston Navy Yard on the 9th for repairs . World War II . Still moored at Charleston on 7 December when word arrived that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had catapulted the U . S . into World War II , " Warrington " put to sea the following day to conduct war patrols along the Atlantic coast from Norfolk to Newport . Late in December , she rendezvoused with and escorted the British battleship into Norfolk on the 21st . For another three weeks , the destroyer patrolled the eastern seaboard as far north as the Massachusetts coast and then headed south on her way to a new area of operations . On 17 January 1942 , the warship arrived in Balboa at the Pacific terminus of the Panama Canal where she reported for duty with the Southeast Pacific Force . Based at Balboa , she operated with the other ships of the Southeast Pacific Force , three cruisers and another destroyer , for the next 16 months . She had two primary missions to perform : escorting merchant , supply , and troop ships between Panama and the Society Islands and patrolling for submarines in the southeastern Pacific as far south as Callao , Peru . Secondary assignments included duty as target and training ship for submarines preparing to enter the war zone and for Army patrol bombers getting ready to do the same . After the Guadalcanal landings on 7 August , her runs to the Society Islands took on new meaning because the bulk of the ships she escorted after that date carried supplies and reinforcements to support America ' s first offensive in the Pacific . On 10 – 11 December , she had the honor of escorting , heavily damaged in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in mid - November , into Balboa on her way to repairs at New York . She continued her patrol and escort duties with the Southeast Pacific Force until early June 1943 . On 23 May , she stood out of Balboa on her last mission with that organization , to escort a convoy to the Society Islands . Upon arrival at Bora Bora on 4 June , she received orders to report for duty to the Commander in Chief , Pacific Fleet . Southwest Pacific . At that juncture , the southwestern Pacific became " Warrington " s area of operations . Upon reaching Nouméa , New Caledonia , she began a five - week stretch of convoy duty that took her to such diverse places as Australia , Samoa , Hawaii , Guadalcanal , and the New Hebrides Islands . On 1 October , she departed Espiritu Santo in the last - named island group to escort to Samoa , whence the destroyer headed to Pearl Harbor for repairs and to pick up a convoy . " Warrington " returned to Espiritu Santo on 30 October but by 6 November had arrived off Koli Point , Guadalcanal , where she joined up with the second echelon of the Bougainville invasion force . At daybreak two days later , she escorted the troop ships charged to her protection into Empress Augusta Bay , Bougainville . She patrolled to seaward while the transports landed reinforcements and supplies on the beaches to the east and southeast of Cape Torokina . Near noon , the air raid warning sounded . Both troop and cargo ships got underway to evade the action ; and " Warrington " joined the antiaircraft defenses for the anchorage and beachhead . At four minutes after noon , the destroyer opened fire on two Japanese planes crossing her stern . The first began smoking almost immediately and crashed dead astern . The second came under fire from the other ships as well ; shuddered under the impact of the combined fire of the ships and then , trailing pieces from his fuselage , splashed down , too . " Warrington " claimed sole credit for downing the first plane and a part in getting the second . The enemy withdrew at about 12 : 25 ; and , six minutes later , the transports resumed their tasks at Cape Torokina . That night , she escorted the empty transports back to Guadalcanal . For the next month , " Warrington " made escort runs between Guadalcanal and Espiritu Santo . On 14 March , she became a part of the antisubmarine screen for an escort carrier task group operating in support of Task Force 37 ( TF 37 ) which , in turn , was striking at Kavieng , a large Japanese base located on the northwestern tip of New Ireland . Later that month , she escorted the third convoy of troopships to Emirau Island , arriving there on the 28th . On 6 April , the destroyer returned to the New Hebrides , stopping briefly at Espiritu Santo before continuing on to Efate where she discharged passengers . On 9 April , she reentered the port at Espiritu Santo for an 11 - day availability . New Guinea . On the 20th , she rejoined TF 37 at Efate and , four days later , headed south to Sydney , Australia , where she arrived on the 29th . After a week in the Australian port , " Warrington " headed back to Efate with TF 37 , entering Havannah Harbor on 10 May . There , she and were detached from the task force and ordered to New Guinea . The two destroyers reached Milne Bay on 13 May and reported for duty with the 7th Fleet . Two days later , " Warrington " stood out of Milne Bay bound for Capes Sudest and Cretin . At the latter place , she joined the antisubmarine screen of a Hollandia - bound convoy of LST ' s . She escorted her charges into Humboldt Bay on 22 May and remained there for three days . She and " Balch " got underway together again on the 25th to conduct a shore bombardment mission at Wakde Island in support of the advancing troops of the 6th Army . She began her first mission early on the 26th . Dense foliage precluded the identification of specific targets , so " Warrington " contented herself with an area bombardment , firing more or less uniformly throughout the designated sector . On the 27th , she and " Balch " returned for a repeat performance , at the conclusion of which they received a message from the general commanding ashore lauding their " . . . superb cooperation . . . " and indicating that their gunfire had been " . . . of great assistance . . . " to the troops ashore . That same day , the two destroyers headed back to Humboldt Bay . The return to Hollandia , however , proved brief . " Warrington " entered the bay on the 28th but departed again late that afternoon to escort an echelon of LST ' s to a convoy rendezvous point . Upon her arrival , she joined the convoy ' s antisubmarine screen and set course to escort it to Biak Island . The convoy reached Biak at 07 : 25 on 30 May , and " Warrington " received orders instructing her to report to shore fire control group no . 1 to deliver call - fire in support of American ground forces advancing toward Mokmer airstrip . About an hour later , she received instructions from the commanding general ashore to patrol west of the beachhead to keep the Japanese from moving reinforcements in from that direction . After a singularly uneventful morning and afternoon , the destroyer quit her patrols and assumed responsibility as fighter director ship when left the unit that night . The following day , she retired from Biak with TG 77 . 8 and arrived back at Humboldt Bay the same day . From 3 – 5 June , she made another voyage to Biak during which she provided gunfire support briefly on the 5th before departing to escort the empty LST ' s back to Humboldt Bay . Following a voyage that took her to Manus in the Admiralties and back to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides , " Warrington " departed the latter port on 19 June in company with " Balch " to return to the United States . Steaming via Bora Bora , the two destroyers transited the Panama Canal on 8 July , stopped briefly at Colón , and arrived in New York on the 15th . She immediately entered the New York Navy Yard and began repairs . She completed her yard period at New York early in August , conducted maneuvers at Casco Bay , Maine , and then entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for additional alterations . On 10 September , she departed Norfolk in company with and set her course for Trinidad . Last days . Two days out of Norfolk , along the Florida coast , the two ships encountered heavy weather . In the afternoon , " Warrington " received word that she was steaming directly into a hurricane . Later that evening , the storm forced the destroyer to heave to while " Hyades " continued on her way alone . Keeping wind and sea on her port bow , " Warrington " rode relatively well through most of the night . Wind and seas , however , continued to build during the early morning hours of the 13th . " Warrington " began to lose headway and , as a result , started to ship water through the vents to her engineering spaces . The water rushing into her vents caused a loss of electrical power which set off a chain reaction . Her main engines lost power , and her steering engine and mechanism went out . She wallowed there in the trough of the swells , continuing to ship water . She regained headway briefly and turned upwind , while her radiomen desperately , but fruitlessly , tried to raise " Hyades " . Finally , she resorted to a plain - language distress call to any ship or shore station . By noon on the 13th , it was apparent that " Warrington " s crewmen could not win the struggle to save their ship , and the order went out to prepare to abandon ship . By 12 : 50 , her crew had left " Warrington " ; and she went down almost immediately . A prolonged search by " Hyades " , , , , , , , , " ATR - 9 " , and " ATR - 62 " rescued only five officers and 68 men of the destroyer ' s 20 officers and 301 men . " Warrington " s name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 23 September 1944 . Awards . " Warrington " earned two battle star s during World War II .