USS Gansevoort ( DD - 608 ) USS " Gansevoort " ( DD - 608 ) was a " Benson " - class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II . She was named for Commodore Guert Gansevoort . " Gansevoort " was laid down 16 June 1941 by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation , San Francisco , California ; launched 11 April 1942 ; sponsored by Mrs . Robert C . Sofio , wife of a great - grandnephew of Commodore Gansevoort ; and commissioned at San Francisco 25 August 1942 , Lieutenant Commander E . A . McFall in command . 1942 and 1943 . After shakedown , " Gansevoort " departed San Francisco 18 November 1942 in the screen of a convoy bound via Hawaii to Noumea , New Caledonia , where she arrived 9 December . Assigned to the South Pacific forces , she spent the next three months giving convoy protection to troop and supply ships reinforcing Guadalcanal from New Caledonia ; the New Hebrides ; Wellington and Auckland , New Zealand . This duty terminated 18 March 1943 , when " Gansevoort " departed Espiritu Santo , New Hebrides , to become a unit of Rear Admiral Charles H . McMorris ' Northern Covering Group of cruiser s and destroyers in the approaches to Attu , Aleutian Islands . She took part in the preinvasion bombardment of Attu 26 April ; made several depth charge attacks on a Japan ese submarine in that area 14 May for unconfirmed results ; screened convoys on the northern and southern approaches around the Aleutian chain ; and twice participated in the bombardment of Kiska , Alaska ( 2 and 12 August ) . She departed Kulka Bay 24 August for repairs in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard until 28 September , then steamed via Hawaii with Destroyer Division 27 to Wellington , New Zealand . Here , " Gansevoort " became a unit of Rear Admiral Hill ' s Southern Attack Force which carried Major General Julian Smith ' s 2d Marine Division to Tarawa Atoll , Gilbert Islands . " Gansevoort " provided continuous gunfire support to Marines during the initial landings on Tarawa 20 November , closing the beach to blast enemy strongpoints with point blank fire . On 24 November , she sped to support Marine forces occupying Apamama Atoll . After embarking Marine wounded , she opened an accurate bombardment that destroyed the entire Japanese garrison on that atoll . She conducted antisubmarine patrol around Tarawa until 4 December , then proceeded via Hawaii to San Francisco where both her high pressure turbines were replaced . 1944 . " Gansevoort " departed San Francisco 13 March 1944 to join the screen of a convoy bound from Hawaii to Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands where she arrived 1 April . During several months of blockade and antisubmarine patrol in waters off the bypassed enemy garrisons in the eastern Marshalls , she rescued several Marine aviators . Once she closed to within 500 yards of a beach to shell shore batteries while her whaleboat picked up an aviator . She also helped reduce enemy coastal defenses by assisting in the bombardment of Mille Atoll ( 26 May and 9 June ) and Taroa Atoll ( 8 August ) . Detached from this duty 19 August , she replenished in Pearl Harbor , then sailed via New Guinea to Manus , Admiralty Islands , to join forces staging for the liberation of the Philippine Islands . " Gansevoort " joined Destroyer Squadron 48 in guarding transports of Vice Admiral Theodore S . Wilkinson ' s Southern Attack Force off the beachhead of Leyte 20 – 21 October . From 27 October until 13 December she escorted troop and supply convoys between New Guinea and the Philippines . On 27 December she joined a large supply convoy at Dulag , Leyte . Comprising 99 naval and merchant ships , this important supply convoy departed the 27th to carry men and material to Mindoro . Steaming via Surigao Strait , the ships came under heavy , constant attacks from Japanese bombers and torpedo and suicide planes . As the convoy steamed through the Mindanao and Sulu Seas , the enemy attacked by day and night between 28 December and 30 December and created nearly 72 hours of hell and hard work for sailors in nearly a hundred ships . Called to General Quarters 49 times in 72 hours , " Gansevoort " ' s gunners shot down 5 enemy planes and assisted in shooting down 12 others . Although enemy planes sank one merchant ship and one LST and severely damaged another merchant ship and , their desperate attacks could not halt this powerful force . She entered Mangarin Bay , Mindoro , with the convey the morning of 30 December 1944 . That afternoon , a " kamikaze " crashed " Gansevoort " s main deck to port . A terrific explosion cut steering and electric power , started several fires , and killed or wounded 34 of her crew . Damage control parties could not get aft as her main deck was blown upward . Destroyers and helped fight her fires , then she was towed to the Mindoro PT base anchorage . Here , " Gansevoort " was given the unusual assignment of knocking off the stern of " Porcupine " with torpedo es , in an attempt to extinguish a fire before it reached the aviation gasoline stowed forward . The water was too shallow for torpedoes to be effective , and in spite of one torpedo hit , fire ignited the gasoline , spreading flames across the water to endanger " Gansevoort " . " Gansevoort " was towed to safety in another anchorage off White Beach . With living quarters gutted , her crew made temporary camp on shore . Her engineering officer , damage control officer , and some twenty men remained on board working to save the ship . Despite recurring air attacks and several near misses by bombs , the destroyer escaped further damage and was made seaworthy after a full month of hazardous and exhausting repairs . 1945 , end of World War II and fate . Despite periodic air attacks , salvage operations continued until 2 February 1945 when " Gansevoort " was taken in tow for San Pedro Bay , thence to Ulithi where emergency repairs were completed by 21 April . Steaming via Pearl Harbor , she returned to San Francisco 19 May for battle damage repairs . She then departed San Diego , California for the East Coast 3 October , arriving New York 20 October . After participating in the Navy Day celebration in New York , " Gansevoort " departed 1 November for inactivation overhaul in the Charleston Naval Shipyard . She decommissioned there 1 February 1946 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet . She was then berthed at Orange , Texas . " Gansevoort " was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 July 1971 and sunk as a target off Florida on 23 March 1972 . Awards . " Gansevoort " received four battle star s for World War II service .