USS Mayrant ( DD - 402 ) The second USS " Mayrant " ( DD - 402 ) was a in the United States Navy , the second ship named for John Mayrant . Commissioned shortly before World War II , she was primarily active in the Atlantic theater of the war , and was decommissioned after being used as a target in the Operation Crossroads atomic weapons tests . History . " Mayrant " was laid down 15 April 1937 at the Boston Navy Yard , Boston , Massachusetts ; launched 14 May 1938 ; sponsored by Mrs . E . Sheely , a descendant of Capt . John Mayrant ; and commissioned 19 September 1939 , LCDR E . A . Taylor in command . During the summer of 1940 , after shakedown and an extended training period , " Mayrant " escorted her Commander in Chief , Franklin D . Roosevelt , on a tour of east coast defenses . Later on in the year , again escorting the President , she visited island bases newly acquired from Great Britain under the " destroyers for bases " agreement . 1941 – 1942 . The following spring , 1941 , as U . S . involvement in European hostilities increased , the Navy expanded its efforts to keep the sealanes open . In May , the limits of the neutrality patrol were extended and the Navy gradually expanded its responsibilities for transatlantic convoys . By September , it was officially responsible for protecting them as far as Iceland , lengthening the patrols of the Support Force , Atlantic Fleet , which had been assigned the task . " Mayrant " , on duty with that force , operated off Newfoundland during the spring and summer . In August she stood - by during the Atlantic Charter Conferences and , at their conclusion , escorted , carrying Prime Minister Winston Churchill , to Great Britain . In late October , " Mayrant " joined a convoy from Halifax to Cape Town . Two days out of the latter port , on 7 December 1941 , she received news of the U . S . entry into the war . She then joined Royal Navy ships protecting convoys transporting British and Canadian troops to South Africa . She returned to the United States in January 1942 , and for the next 5 months engaged in North Atlantic convoy duty . In April , she sailed to Scapa Flow where she joined the British Home Fleet . As a unit of that fleet she participated in operations in the Denmark Strait in search of the German battleship " Tirpitz " in addition to escorting several convoys on the " suicide run " to Murmansk . " Mayrant " returned to the east coast in July and immediately put her experience to work conducting antisubmarine warfare training exercises in the Caribbean . Relieved of that duty in October , she resumed convoy work . She escorted troops to north Africa for the November invasions and screened the covering force for the Naval Battle of Casablanca off Casablanca 8 and 9 November . Continuing her support activities , she helped to insure the safe passage of supplies to the area into the new year , 1943 . Damaged off Palermo . Following the success of the north African invasion , " Mayrant " spent several months on convoy duty off the east coast , returning to north African waters in May . Passing through the Straits of Gibraltar , she arrived Mers - el Kebir , 23 May . Throughout June she cruised the north African coast from Oran to Bizerte , escorting convoys and conducting antisubmarine patrols . On 14 July , she shifted her base of operations north toward Sicily . While on anti - air patrol off Palermo , 26 July , she was attacked by Luftwaffe dive bombers . A near miss , only a yard or two off her port bow , during this encounter caused extensive damage . Her side ruptured and her engineering space flooded , she was towed into Palermo with five dead and 18 wounded . When the engineering space of a ship is flooded , the ship usually sinks . However , heroic action of her crew , and able assistance of several other ships who pumped water and provided electric power , kept the " Mayrant " floating as she crawled back to harbor . Her executive officer , Franklin Delano Roosevelt , Jr . , was later awarded the Silver Star for his action in saving the ship . In port , mattresses were stuffed into the holes in the ship ' s sides . In spite of her damage , the destroyer ' s secondary guns helped repel several Luftwaffe raids on Palermo during the next week . On 9 August , she was towed to Malta where temporary repairs were completed by 14 November . She then steamed to Charleston , South Carolina for extensive yard repairs . 1944 – 1945 . Back in fighting trim 15 May 1944 she departed Charleston for Casco Bay , Maine . For the next year she operated primarily along the east coast , escorting new cruisers and aircraft carriers on shakedown and protecting coastal convoys . During this year she also escorted two convoys to the Mediterranean . On patrol off New England , 5 April 1945 , " Mayrant " went to the rescue of the cargo ship " Atlantic States " , torpedoed off Cape Cod Light . Despite heavy weather , the destroyer transferred members of her crew to the powerless merchantman and took her in tow . For 2 days until oceangoing tugs had her under control , they battled waves and breaking lines to keep " Atlantic States " from drifting and sinking . The war in Europe drawing to a close , " Mayrant " transferred to the Pacific Fleet . She arrived Pearl Harbor 21 May and underwent intensive training in shore bombardment and night operations . On 2 June she sailed for Ulithi escorting convoys to Iwo Jima , Okinawa , and Saipan . After the end of hostilities , " Mayrant " was designated to make preliminary arrangements for the surrender of the enemy garrison on Marcus , a bypassed island in the central Pacific . With the official surrender of the island 31 August , the destroyer took up air - sea rescue operations in the Marshalls and Marianas . Fate . On 30 December , " Mayrant " arrived at San Diego for a brief stay before heading back to the central Pacific . Designated as test ship for Operation Crossroads , the 1946 atomic bomb tests , she arrived Bikini Atoll , Marshall Islands , 31 May 1946 . Surviving the tests , but too highly contaminated , " Mayrant " decommissioned at Bikini 28 August 1946 . She was sunk 4 April 1948 off Kwajalein and struck from the Navy Register on 30 April . Honors . " Mayrant " received three battle stars for World War II service .