USS Ward ( DD - 139 ) USS " Ward " ( DD - 139 ) was a " Wickes " - class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I , later APD - 16 ( see High speed transport ) in World War II . She fired the first American shot in World War II , when she engaged the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor , and successfully sank her opponent . Design and construction . " Ward " was named in honor of Commander James Harmon Ward , USN , ( 1806 – 1861 ) , the first U . S . Navy officer to be killed in action during the American Civil War . " Ward " was built at the Mare Island Navy Yard , California in a record of 17½ days . Under the pressure of urgent World War I needs for destroyers , her construction was pushed rapidly from keel - laying on 15 May 1918 to launching on 1 June and commissioning on 24 July 1918 . Service history . " Ward " transferred to the Atlantic late in the year and helped support the trans - Atlantic flight of the NC flying boats in May 1919 . She came back to the Pacific a few months later and remained there until she was decommissioned in July 1921 . She had received the hull number DD - 139 in July 1920 . The outbreak of World War II in Europe brought " Ward " back into active service . She recommissioned in January 1941 . Sent to Pearl Harbor shortly thereafter , the destroyer operated on local patrol duties in Hawaiian waters over the next year . Pearl Harbor . On the morning of 7 December 1941 , under the command of LCDR William W . Outerbridge , " Ward " was conducting a precautionary patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor when she was informed at 0357 by visual signals from Coast Guard manned of a periscope sighting whereupon " Ward " began searching for the contact . At about 0637 she sighted a periscope apparently tailing whereupon she attacked the target . The target sunk was a Japan ese " Ko - hyoteki " - class midget submarine and thus " Ward " fired the first American shots of World War II a few hours before Japanese carrier aircraft formally opened the conflict with their attack on the Pacific Fleet inside the harbor . The submarine was attempting to enter the harbor by following the cargo ship " Antares " through the anti - submarine nets at the harbor entrance . The " Ward " fired several rounds from its main guns hitting the conning tower of the sub and also dropped several depth charges during the attack . While a minority of academics doubted whether " Ward " had really sunk a Japanese mini - sub , since undersea searches off Pearl Harbor had previously failed to locate the midget submarine , on 28 August 2002 , a team of scientists from the University of Hawaii finally found the vessel . They discovered that the submarine lies underneath the sea in American waters about outside of Pearl Harbor The starboard side of the submarine ' s conning tower exhibits one shell hole ; evidence of damage from the Ward ' s # 3 gun . While her depth charges were sufficient to fully lift the , submarine out of the water , they did no apparent structural damage to the submarine , which sank due to water flooding into the vessel from the two shell holes . After Pearl Harbor . In 1942 , " Ward " was sent to the West Coast for conversion to a high speed transport . Redesignated APD - 16 in February 1943 , she steamed to the South Pacific to operate in the Solomon Islands area . She helped fight off a heavy Japanese air attack off Tulagi on 7 April 1943 and spent most of the rest of that year on escort and transport service . In December , she participated in the Cape Gloucester invasion . During the first nine months of 1944 , " Ward " continued her escort and patrol work and also took part in several Southwest Pacific amphibious landings , among them the assaults on Saidor , Nissan Island , Emirau , Aitape , Biak , Cape Sansapor and Morotai . Fate . As the Pacific War moved closer to Japan , " Ward " was assigned to assist with operations to recover the Philippine Islands . On 17 October 1944 , she put troops ashore on Dinagat Island during the opening phase of the Leyte invasion . After spending the rest of October and November escorting ships to and from Leyte , in early December " Ward " transported Army personnel during the landings at Ormoc Bay , Leyte . On the morning of 7 December , three years to the day after her No . 1 gun fired the opening shot of America ' s involvement in the war , she was patrolling off the invasion area when she came under attack by several Japanese " kamikaze s " . One bomber hit her hull amidships , bringing her to a dead stop . When the resulting fires could not be controlled , " Ward " s crew was ordered to abandon ship , and she was sunk by gunfire from , whose commanding officer , William W . Outerbridge , had been in command of " Ward " during her action off Pearl Harbor three years before . In the movie " Tora ! Tora ! Tora ! " , " Ward " was portrayed by USS Savage ( DE - 386 ) . Memorial . " Ward " s No . 3 / 50 cal gun was removed when she was converted to a high speed transport . It was installed in 1958 , the year of the Minnesota Centennial , as a memorial at the Minnesota State Capitol in St . Paul , as the men who fired it on 7 December 1941 were members of the Minnesota Naval Reserve . A plaque containing a listing of the Naval Reservists from Saint Paul who served aboard " Ward " is now displayed in the St . Paul City Hall on the 3rd floor between the council and mayoral offices , in an area also containing the ship ' s bell from the cruiser . As of 2012 , no other ship in the United States Navy has borne this name , although there is sometimes confusion with the three destroyers named .