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USS Bernadou (DD-153)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Bernadou (DD-153)

USS Bernadou (Destroyer No. 153) was laid down on 4 June 1918 at Philadelphia, Pa., by William Cramp & Sons; launched on 7 November 1918; sponsored by Miss Cora Winslow Bernadou; and commissioned on 19 May 1919, Lt. Comdr. Louis C. Farley in command.

Soon after commissioning, the destroyer visited Boston, Mass., and then set a course for Europe. She cruised the waters of western Europe making frequent port visits through the early part of the summer of 1919. For the next three years, she operated along the eastern coast of the United States, heading south each winter to participate in fleet maneuvers. During such operations in 1921, USS Bernadou (DD-153) and the rest of the Atlantic Fleet transited the Panama Canal to conduct combined operations with the Pacific Fleet. 

The warship remained inactive at Philadelphia for almost eight years. On 1 May 1930, she was placed back in commission, and she resumed duty along the Atlantic seaboard as a unit of Destroyer Division 2, Scouting Force. By the spring of 1941, USS Bernadou (DD-153) operated from Newport, R.I., as a unit of the "Support Force," a convoy-escort force formed in March 1941 to intensify the Navy's involvement in the Battle of the Atlantic. On 19 April, Cole and USS Bernadou (DD-153) sailed for Reykjavik, Iceland, to rendezvous with a convoy and escort it to Londonderry, Ireland, where they arrived on 27 April.

On 19 December, the warship sailed for Argentia, Newfoundland. However, a steering casualty three days later forced her to put into port at Halifax, Nova Scotia. On Christmas Eve 1942, USS Bernadou (DD-153) received orders to escort the Russian submarine S-55 to a rendezvous. On New Year's Day 1943, USS Bernadou (DD-153) put to sea in company with Dallas (DD-199) bound for St. Johns, Newfoundland, where she arrived the following day. USS Bernadou (DD-153) spent most of January 1944 in or near the Charleston Navy Yard undergoing repairs and carrying out related test runs. USS Bernadou (DD-153) continued to provide training services to units of the Atlantic Fleet along the east coast from Key West, Fla., to Casco Bay, Maine. She served mostly as plane guard for escort carrier flight exercises. On 25 May, USS Bernadou (DD-153) was ordered to Bayonne, N.J., and remained there until 8 June 1945 when she was ordered to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was placed out of commission on 17 July 1945.

For a complete history of USS Bernadou (DD-153) please see its DANFS page.