The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941 triggered the American commitment to World War 2. Ford survived the initial Japanese aerial actions against Manila and made some of her wartime career in the Far East Theater. She took part in a destroyer-led torpedo raid on Japanese shipping at Balikpapan to which four enemies were sunk.
On February 27th, 1942, the Battle of Java Sea was had between a combined force of American, British, Australian and Dutch ships against the Empire of Japan. Ford survived this action but the battle marked a victory for the Japanese. Three Allied destroyers, along with a pair of light cruisers and a heavy cruiser were lost with 2,300 hands. The Japanese force was reduced by one destroyer and 36 men.
After arriving in Australian waters, Ford was part of a destroyer force charged with patrolling and convoy escort duties. After several months at this post, she undertook escort duties from the California coast to Pearl Harbor and she returned to California in May of 1943 to take part in Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) exercises.
From there, Ford was transferred to the Atlantic where she would forge the second half of her career. Her patrols took her across the Atlantic Ocean where the warship helped to sink the German U-Boat U-544 in January 1944 near the Azores. Her next tour placed her in Mediterranean waters where she served as a deterrent for marauding German U-boats. However, a collision with a British ship in March (near Gibraltar) forced her return to Norfolk, Virginia. Once repaired, she continued operations in the Atlantic.
In July of 1945 Ford was redesignated to "AG-119" and categorized as a miscellaneous auxiliary warship. In September, with the war over, the warship returned to Norfolk and was decommissioned on November 2nd, 1945. Once stripped of her war-making usefulness, her hulk was sold off in October of 1947. For her service in World War 2, the John D. Ford was awarded four Battle Stars. Her namesake was Rear Admiral John Donaldson Ford (1840-1918), an American Civil War and Spanish-American War veteran.
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