USS Glennon ( DD - 840 ) USS " Glennon " ( DD - 840 ) was a of the United States Navy , the second Navy ship named for Rear Admiral James H . Glennon ( 1857 – 1940 ) . " Glennon " was launched on 14 July 1945 by the Bath Iron Works , Bath , Maine ; sponsored by Miss Frances Reading Glennon , granddaughter ; and commissioned on 4 October 1945 , Commander George W . Pressey in command . Service history . 1945 – 1951 . After shakedown off Cuba , " Glennon " sailed from Boston , Massachusetts on 12 February 1946 for Europe and visited many of the nations washed by the North Sea before returning to New York in August of the same year . Undergoing upkeep at Boston and overhaul at Newport , Rhode Island , " Glennon " conducted refresher training out of Guantanamo Bay during April and May 1947 . For the next 12 months she engaged in a rigorous schedule of tactics along the New England coast and down the eastern seaboard to ports of Florida . In February and March 1948 she took part in combat fleet exercises and maneuvers in waters ranging from Cuba to Trinidad and the Panama Canal . Sailing from Norfolk , Virginia in June 1948 , " Glennon " served with the Midshipman Practice Squadron and made calls at Portugal , Italy , and French Morocco . She joined the 6th Fleet in August 1948 for Mediterranean duty , returning stateside in January 1949 for overhaul at Boston . In the winter of 1949 – 50 she was part of " Operation Frostbite " , a cold weather exercise near the Davis Strait , subsequently to sail from Newport on 4 January 1950 for another " Med " cruise . Upon return to the United States , she made a series of reserve training cruises along the eastern , seaboard and engaged in type training along the New England coast and into the Caribbean Sea . Underway from Newport on 8 January 1951 , she embarked on another " Med " cruise , returning to Boston in May for overhaul followed by refresher training out of Cuba . 1952 – 1967 . " Glennon " spent January and February 1952 with a carrier task force conducting cold weather training in waters ranging northward to the Davis Straits . From April to October she was flagship of Destroyer Squadron 8 ( DesRon 8 ) , and stood out in June for the Mediterranean , returning to Annapolis , Maryland in September 1952 . In July and August of 1952 ' Glennon ' was part of a Task Group with the flagship New Jersey which conducted Midshipman training on a six week cruise . The Task Group shipped out of Newport News , VA with ports of call at Cherbourg , Lisbon , and Guantanamo . For more than a decade the destroyer continued her already established peacetime operation pattern . Highlights of this exacting duty included participation as a recovery station ship in the 1961 and 1962 Project Mercury flights , and in the search for the lost nuclear powered submarine . In August 1961 " Glennon " was called away suddenly to join the task force for the Project Mercury space shot carrying Major Gus Grissom . In early 1962 she was again chosen to man an Atlantic recovery station for the historic three - orbit flight of Major John Glenn . An extensive overhaul at Boston terminated on 24 July 1963 , and through the remainder of that year " Glennon " trained in the Caribbean , acted as school ship for the Anti - submarine Warfare School at Key West , Florida , and put in at Boston in November for refitting . The years 1964 and 1965 found " Glennon " continuing her ASW work . In September 1964 she was chosen to carry guests to the America ' s Cup Races . Later in May 1965 she conducted exercises called " Mule 65 " in which United States Army cadets from West Point were given shipboard indoctrination . Through 1967 " Glennon " continued to operate with the United States Atlantic Fleet . 1967 – 1976 . Glennon was called to serve with TF77 as a Naval Gunfire Support Unit off Viet Nam in 1972 . She made a 72 hour notice emergency deployment from Charleston South Carolina through the Panama Canal . She supported many operations and answered many calls for fire in South Viet Nam and around the DMZ . She also supported operations off North Viet Nam , and was involved in several fire fights with shore batteries . Her Officers and crew wear the Combat Action Ribbon , multiple awards . " Glennon " was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 October 1976 . She was sunk as a target off Puerto Rico on 26 February 1981 .