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USS Halsey Powell (DD-686)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Halsey Powell (DD-686)

USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) was launched by Bethlehem Steel Co., Staten Island, N.Y., 30 June 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Halsey Powell, widow of Captain Powell; and commissioned 25 October 1943, Comdr. W. T. McGarry in command.

USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) conducted her shakedown training off the East Coast, and sailed 20 January 1944 from Norfolk to join the Pacific Fleet. Arriving Pearl Harbor 12 February, the destroyer steamed to Majuro to escort tankers back to Hawaii, returning to the Marshalls in March for escort and patrol duty. As the islands fell to American amphibious troops, USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) and other ships protected the task force from air and submarine attack.

Following the Marshalls operation, USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) departed Pearl Harbor 30 May for rehearsals in connection with the upcoming Marianas invasions. She sortied with the assault force from Eniwetok 11 June, and as troops stormed ashore on Saipan 4 days later she took up fire support station off the beaches, and was an effective force in victory. In addition to screening, radar picket duties, and fire support for ground forces, USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) sank a net tender, a cargo ship and numerous small craft in the lagoon with her guns.

USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) arrived San Pedro for battle repairs 8 May, out with the Pacific war reaching its climax sailed again for Pearl Harbor 19 July 1945. She arrived Eniwetok 17 August, 2 days after the surrender of Japan, and was present in Tokyo Bay for the formal surrender ceremonies 2 September. The ship then supported the occupation forces until departing 31 October for Puget Sound. USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) decommissioned 10 December 1946 at San Diego and was placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

With the increased demands on the Navy as a result of the Korean conflict, USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) recommissioned 27 April 1951. After shakedown and training exercises the ship sailed for the familiar waters of the Far East 23 July from Long Beach, arriving Japan 16 August. Joining Task Force 77, the destroyer acted as plane guard and screening ship while the carrier planes kept up constant pressure on the Communist lines and shore installations. USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) continued these operations off the eastern coast of Korea until October, when she departed the nearly stabilized war zone for training off Okinawa. During the next few years USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) made yearly cruises to the western Pacific, operating with Task Force 77 off Korea, patrolling the Formosa Strait, and engaging in tactical exercises with other units of the Pacific Fleet.

On 1 January 1965, USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) was assigned to Reserve Destroyer Squadron 27 with Long Beach as her home port. She operated as a Naval Reserve training ship through 1967, cruising between Vancouver, Canada, and Mazatlan, Mexico.

For a complete history of USS Halsey Powell (DD-686) please see its DANFS page.