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USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photogrpahs of USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692). 

Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) was laid down on 7 July 1943 at Kearny, N. J., by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.; launched on 15 December 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Allen M. Sumner, Capt. Sumner's widow; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 26 January 1944, Comdr. Norman J. Sampson, in command.

The destroyer was fitted out at the New York Navy Yard until 3 March when she got underway for shakedown training in the waters around Bermuda. She returned to New York on 8 April and commenced post-shakedown availability.

USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) stayed in Hawaii lasted until 23 October when she steamed out of Pearl Harbor in company with North Carolina (BB-55), bound for duty in the western Pacific with the Fast Carrier Task Force. Steaming via Eniwetok, the destroyer entered Ulithi lagoon on 5 November. Allen M. Sumner remained at Ulithi until 19 November at which time she departed the atoll to join Task Group (TG) 38.4 at sea.

On 23 February 1947, USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) began an extended cruise to the Far East which included visits to Australia, the Marianas, the Philippines, China, and Japan before her return to the west coast for an overhaul and subsequent local operations. Between the spring of 1949 and the spring of 1953, the destroyer conducted normal peacetime operations out of Norfolk.

Over the next eight years, USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) alternated east coast and West Indies operations with seven deployments to European waters. Allen M. Sumner completed her overhaul on 2 January 1962 and resumed her schedule of east coast operations alternated with Mediterranean cruises. Between March and September of 1962, she served with the 6th Fleet.

Throughout 1968, she cruised the waters of the West Indies, frequently providing support for the encircled naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Similar duty carried her through the first four months of 1969. On 16 October 1974, she was sold to the Union Minerals & Alloy Corp. for scrapping.

For a complete history of USS Allen M. Sumner (DD-692) please see its DANFS page.