Service
USS Gleaves (DD-423) was contracted to Bath Iron Works and saw her keel laid down on May 16th, 1938. She was launched to sea on December 9th, 1939, and formally commissioned on June 14th, 1940. As the United States had not yet entered World War 2 (1939-1945), the warship remained stateside near the Atlantic seaboard and in Caribbean waters during her early-going. Her first war-related actions were in convoy and patrols duties across the Atlantic and near Icelandic waters in support of the Allies.
By the time the war had fully enveloped U.S. attention, Gleaves was operating out to points near the North African coast and Ireland with the one primary threat being German attack submarines (U-boats). No fewer than thirteen convoys involved USS Gleaves with nine coming after the American declaration of war.
USS Gleaves then took part in the Allied landings at Sicily and Anzio while supporting amphibious, convoy, and anti-submarine operations in the Mediterranean Theater. Several direct attempts by the enemy, under the cover of night, were made against her but the mighty little warship managed to survive and either sink or drive off her attackers. She managed an in-theater career until February of 1945, at which point she was recalled stateside for refit. Once the work was completed, she was tasked with training in Caribbean waters.
With the European war over in May of 1945, USS Gleaves made it to Hawaii with Tokyo as the next prize. However, the War in the Pacific was ended with the Japanese surrender by September of that year, bringing about an end to the war in full. That November, she served in getting medicine to USS Adabelle Lykes after a smallpox outbreak was discovered.
Like other warships of the immediate post-war period, Gleaves took on veterans for the trip home under "Operation Magic Carper". She brought home at least 300 personnel to Seattle, Washington in December of 1945. From there, it was a stop to San Francisco waters before ending her voyage along the American East Coast in Charleston, South Carolina for January of 1946.
End of the Road
The warship was officially decommissioned on May 8th, 1946 and placed in reserve status in Philadelphia waters. She was then relocated to Orange, Texas. Her name was stricken from the Naval Register on November 1st, 1969 and her stripped hulk was sold for scrapping on June 29th, 1972.
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