USS Wainwright ( DD - 419 ) USS " Wainwright " ( DD - 419 ) was a World War II - era " Sims " - class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy . The ship was named to honor Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright , his son , Master Jonathan Wainwright , Jr . , his cousin , Commander Richard Wainwright , and also Rear Admiral Richard Wainwright " Wainwright " was laid down on 7 June 1938 at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard ; launched on 1 June 1939 ; sponsored by Mrs . Henry Meiggs ; and commissioned on 15 April 1940 , Lieutenant Commander Thomas L . Lewis in command . Service history . World War II . Following shakedown , " Wainwright " began duty with the Atlantic Fleet in conjunction with the Neutrality Patrol which had been established by President Franklin D . Roosevelt soon after World War II broke out in Europe early in September 1939 to keep hostilities from spreading to the Western Hemisphere . Just before the opening of hostilities between Japan and the United States , " Wainwright " embarked upon a mission which indicated an acceleration in America ' s gradual drift into the Allied camp . She departed Halifax , Nova Scotia , on 10 November , as a unit of the screen for Convoy WS - 12X , an all - American ship convoy transporting British and Commonwealth troops via the Cape of Good Hope to Basra in the Near East . The convoy steamed first to Trinidad in the British West Indies , in order that the " short - legged " destroyers might refuel there before beginning the long South Atlantic leg of the voyage to Cape Town . There , the convoy was to be turned over to the British Admiralty for orders and protection , and the destroyers were to turn around and head home . The convoy reached Cape Town on 9 December 1941 , two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and two days before Germany and Italy declared war on the United States . This change in the strategic picture caused changes in the destinations of the transports . Some went to Suez and thence to Australia while other carried reinforcements to the doomed " fortress " of Singapore . The escorting American destroyers headed back to the United States , but this time they put to sea as full - fledged belligerents . Upon her return to the east coast , " Wainwright " resumed her patrols . Her assignment , however , took on a new complexion . No longer simply trying to prevent the spread of hostilities to the Western Hemisphere , she patrolled instead to protect America ' s shorelines and seagoing traffic along her coast from Germany ' s undersea fleet . That duty continued until mid - March 1942 , when the warship received orders to join the British Home Fleet as part of an American force composed of , , , , , and seven other destroyers . On 25 March , she departed Casco Bay , Maine , in company with " Wasp " , " Washington " , " Wichita " , " Tuscaloosa " and the destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 8 ( DesRon 8 ) , with Commander DesRon 8 ( ComDesRon 8 ) embarked . The task unit reached Scapa Flow , in the Orkney Islands north of the British Isles , on 3 April . Until the fall of 1942 , " Wainwright " participated in convoy operations between Iceland , Orkney , and northern Russia . During this period , she had frequent brushes with " Luftwaffe " planes and " Kriegsmarine " submarines . Her most famous and most successful encounter with the enemy came three months after she arrived in European waters while the destroyer was protecting the North Russia convoys . She was then part of the covering force for the ill - fated Convoy PQ - 17 , making the run from Iceland to Archangel . The force , built around , " Tuscaloosa " , " Wichita " , , " Wainwright " , , and seven British destroyers , departed Seydisfjord , Iceland , on 1 July . PQ - 17 suffered Luftwaffe and submarine attacks on 2 and 3 July , but " Wainwright " did not get involved directly until 4 July . In mid - afternoon , the destroyer joined the convoy to refuel from Aldersdale . On her way to the rendezvous , the warship assisted the convoy in repulsing two torpedo - plane raids . During the first , her long - range fire kept the six enemy planes at a distance sufficient to make their torpedo drops wholly inaccurate . The second was a desultory , single - plane affair in which the warship easily drove off the lone torpedo bomber . During the ensuing dive - bombing attack , she evaded the enemy handily , the nearest bomb landing at least away . After that attack , a two - hour lull in the action allowed " Wainwright " to resume her original mission , refueling , but the enemy returned at about 1820 . At the sight of 25 Heinkel 111 s milling about on the southern horizon , the warship turned to port to clear the convoy . At that juncture , the Heinkels divided themselves into two groups for the attack ; one on her starboard quarter and the other on her starboard bow . " Wainwright " took the group off her quarter under fire at extreme range , about 10 , 000 yards ( 9 . 1 km ) distant , and maintained her fire until it endangered the convoy . At that juncture , she shifted her attention to the more dangerous bow attack . Her fire on that group proved so effective that only one plane managed to penetrate her defenses to make his drop between " Wainwright " and the convoy . All the others prudently dropped their torpedoes about to from the destroyer . That resulted in a torpedo run to the convoy itself in excess of . The ships in the convoy easily evaded the torpedoes approaching from the bow , but the torpedoes coming from the starboard quarter found their marks , and . " Wainwright " , though , had put up a successful defense . Her antiaircraft gunners damaged three or four enemy planes and generally discouraged the raiders from pressing home their attack with the vigor necessary for greater success . Not long after that attack , at about 1900 , " Wainwright " parted company with convoy PQ - 17 to rejoin her own task unit , then heading off to meet the supposed threat posed by the possible sortie of a German surface force built around , , and . Convoy PQ - 17 , naked to the enemy after the Support Force withdrew to meet a danger which never materialized , scattered . Each ship tried to make it to northern Russia as best she could . Luftwaffe planes and Kriegsmarine submarines saw that few succeeded . After more than three weeks of individual hide - and - seek games with the Germans , the last groups of PQ - 17 ships straggled into Archangel on 25 July . Operation " Rosselsprung " as the Germans dubbed the action , had proved an overwhelming success . It cost the Allies over two - thirds of the ships in PQ - 17 . However , " Wainwright " s brief association with the convoy probably saved several others from being added to the casualty list . " Wainwright " continued to escort Atlantic convoys through the summer and into the fall of 1942 . However , no action like that she encountered on 4 July occurred . It was not until the first large - scale amphibious operation of the European - African - Middle Eastern theater came along in November that she again engaged the enemy in deadly earnest . For the invasion of French Morocco , " Wainwright " was assigned to the four - destroyer screen of the Covering Group ( Task Group 34 . 1 ) built around , " Tuscaloosa " , and " Wichita " . Assembled at Casco Bay , Maine , that group got underway on 24 October and , two days later , rendezvoused with the remainder of Task Force 34 ( TF 34 ) , which had sortied from Hampton Roads . The task force reached the Moroccan coast on the night of 7 / 8 November . The invasion was scheduled for the pre - dawn hours of the following morning . The Covering Force drew the two - fold mission of protecting the transports in the event of a sortie by French heavy surface units based at Dakar and of preventing a sortie by the French light forces based at Casablanca . For " Wainwright " , the Naval Battle of Casablanca opened just before 0700 on 8 November when her antiaircraft gunners joined those of the other ships of the Covering Force in chasing away two Vichy French planes . Later that morning , Casablanca - based submarines , destroyers , and the cruiser Primauget sallied forth to oppose the landings , already in progress at Fedhala . " Wainwright " joined " Massachusetts " , " Tuscaloosa " , " Wichita " and the other three destroyers in stopping that attack . Their efforts cost the French heavily . Four Vichy destroyers and eight submarines were sunk while the light cruiser and two destroyer - leaders suffered crippling damage . In addition to her part in the engagement with the French warships , " Wainwright " also participated in the intermittent gun duels with batteries ashore . For the next three days , " Wainwright " remained off the Moroccan coast supporting the invasion . The Army invested Casablanca by the night of 10 November , and the French capitulated late the following morning . On 12 November , the Covering Force , with " Wainwright " in the screen , sailed for home . The destroyer arrived in New York on 21 November and immediately began a two - week repair period . Next , after a brief training period , the warship resumed duty with transatlantic convoys . For the next six months , she busied herself protecting merchant ships making the voyage to North African ports . During her stay in Casablanca after one such voyage , she played host to a group of Moroccan dignitaries including Sidi Mohammed , the Sultan of Morocco . During another convoy operation , she helped screen Convoy UGS - 6 which lost five of its 45 ships to U - boat torpedoes . When not engaged in Atlantic convoy duty , she trained with other ships of the Atlantic Fleet and underwent brief repairs in various American ports . In June 1943 , " Wainwright " returned to North Africa for convoy duty between ports along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa which occupied her until the invasion of Sicily in July . For that operation , " Wainwright " was assigned to TG 80 . 2 , the Escort Group . The force arrived off the Sicilian coast on the night of 9 / 10 July , and the assault troops went ashore the following morning . During the campaign , " Wainwright " protected the transports from enemy air and submarine activity . While she was patrolling off Palermo on 26 July , a formation of twin - engine Junkers Ju 88 medium bombers attacked her group . Two near misses flooded both main engine rooms in , and " Wainwright " joined in escorting the stricken warship into port under tow . Later , she supported the " leap - frog " amphibious moves employed by Major General George S . Patton in his rampage across northern Sicily to the Strait of Messina . During her stay in Sicilian waters , the destroyer also supported mine - sweeping operations and conducted antishipping sweeps . In mid - August , she returned to North Africa at Mers - el - Kébir , Algeria , where she remained until early September . On 5 September , she resumed convoy duty , this time between North Africa and Sicily , frequently warding off Luftwaffe air raids . Italy proper had been invaded early in September , and late in October , the warship was called upon to bombard enemy installations around Naples in support of the 5th Army ’ s advance on that city . She resumed convoy duty soon thereafter . Her next noteworthy contact with the enemy came on 13 December . While conducting an antisubmarine sweep north of Algiers in company with , , and , she made contact with " U - 593 " . First " Wainwright " and then " Calpe " attacked with depth charges . Those attacks brought the submarine to the surface , and " Wainwright " s gun crews went to work on her . In less than two minutes , the German crew began to abandon their vessel . " Wainwright " responded with a boarding party . The American sailors rescued survivors but failed to save the U - boat . After returning to Algiers and delivering her prisoners to British authorities there , she resumed convoy and patrol duties in North African waters . At the beginning of 1944 , she provided support for the troops trying to break out of the beachheads at Anzio and Nettuno on the Italian mainland . Those duties occupied her until early February when she received orders to return to the United States . She steamed homeward in company with " Ariel " ( AF - 22 ) and " Niblack " via Ponta Delgada in the Azores , arrived at New York on 12 February , and entered the navy yard there for a three - week overhaul . When that chore was finished on 6 March , the destroyer began 13 months of escort and training duty along the eastern seaboard . That routine ended on 27 April 1945 when she passed through the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean . After a stop at San Diego , California and exercises out of Pearl Harbor , the warship headed for the western Pacific . She reached Ulithi on 13 June and for the next two months sailed between various islands in the area . She visited Iwo Jima , Okinawa , Saipan , Guam , and Eniwetok . On 12 August , she departed the last - named atoll in company with TF 49 bound for the Aleutian Islands . While she was at sea , the Japanese capitulation ended hostilities . Four days later , the ship steamed into Adak , Alaska . She remained there until the last day of the month when she got underway with TF 92 , bound for Honshū , Japan . " Wainwright " arrived in Ominato Ko on 12 September and began a six - week tour of duty in support of the occupation forces . That duty ended on 30 October , and the warship headed back toward the United States . Post - War . After stops at Midway Atoll and Pearl Harbor , " Wainwright " pulled into San Diego on 16 December . The destroyer remained at San Diego in an inactive status until the spring of 1946 . At that time , she was designated a target ship for the atomic tests to be conducted at Bikini Atoll that summer . She survived both blasts at Bikini in July . On 29 August 1946 , she was decommissioned . " Wainwright " remained at Bikini almost two years under intermittent inspection by scientists evaluating the effects of the Operation Crossroads tests . Finally , she was towed out to sea in July 1948 and sunk as a target on 5 July . Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 13 July 1948 . Awards . " Wainwright " earned seven battle stars for World War II service .