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USS Hank (DD-702)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Hank (DD-702)

USS Hank (DD-702) was launched 21 May 1944 by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Kearny, N.J.; sponsored by Mrs. William Edwin Hank, widow of Lt. Cmdr. Hank; and commissioned 28 August 1944, G. M. Chambers in command.

After completing her Caribbean shakedown 18 October, USS Hank (DD-702) joined battleships USS Missouri, USS Texas, and USS Arkansas at New York and then sailed for the Pacific reaching Pearl Harbor 6 December via the Panama Canal and San Francisco. USS Hank (DD-702) reported to Ulithi 28 December and sortied 2 days later as part of the screen for Task Force 38, a fast carrier force under Vice Admiral John S. McCain. After launching one final raid against Okinawa, the carriers and escorts, USS Hank (DD-702) included, returned to Ulithi 26 January 1945. As the Pacific war moved into its climactic phases, USS Hank (DD-702) steamed from Ulithi with Task Force 58 14 March for further strikes against the Japanese home islands. Closing to within 75 miles of their targets, the carriers launched massive strikes against airfields on Kyushu and ships in the Inland Sea 18 and 19 March.

After repairs at Ulithi, USS Hank (DD-702) again joined Task Force 58, 1 May to resume screening and radar picket duties off Okinawa. June was spent at San Pedro Bay, Philippines, undergoing replenishment and training, and on 1 July the carriers redesignated Task Force 38 and operating under Vice Admiral McCain in Admiral Halsey's 3d Fleet sortied to launch further strikes against the Home Islands. Hostilities ceased 15 August 1945, and USS Hank (DD-702) steamed proudly into Tokyo Bay 10 September to participate in the occupation. She continued operations around Japan and Pearl Harbor through 30 December, when she sailed for Charleston, S.C., via Eniwetok, Pearl Harbor, San Diego, and the Panama Canal.

After a yard overhaul at Norfolk, USS Hank (DD-702) resumed the peacetime training operations, Caribbean exercises, and annual deployments to the Mediterranean that kept the fleet ready to serve America well at any moment on the seas. In the fall of 1956 as warfare flared over the nationalization of the Suez Canal, USS Hank (DD-702) was there. She conducted patrols in the eastern Mediterranean to assert and confirm America's determination to keep the peace as well as to protect her citizens and interests.

In 1960 the destroyer with the Navy began to reach into space. USS Hank (DD-702) participated in training for Project Mercury, America's first man-in-space effort, off the Virginia capes, and she was designated one of the recovery ships when Astronaut Lt. Oomdr. Scott Carpenter made his orbital flight 24 May 1962. USS Hank (DD-702) operated with USS Independence on blockade and surveillance duty during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, remaining in the tension-filled Caribbean for nearly a month. USS Hank (DD-702) was designated a Naval Reserve Training Ship in October 1963 and proceeded to her new home port, Philadelphia. After undergoing repairs at Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Chester Pa., in 1964 USS Hank (DD-702) began reserve training cruises along the East Coast from Fort. Lauderdale, Fla., to Halifax, Nova Scotia, continuing into 1967.

For a complete history of USS Hank (DD-702) please see its DANFS page.