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USS Humphreys (DD-236/APD-12)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Humphreys (DD-236/APD-12)

USS Humphreys (DD-236) was launched 28 July 1919 by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; sponsored by Miss Letitia A. Humphreys, great-granddaughter of Joshua Humphreys; and commissioned at Philadelphia 21 July 1920, Comdr. W. Baggaley in command.

After completing her shakedown training in New England waters, Humphreys sailed 14 August for special duty in the Mediterranean. For the next year USS Humphreys (DD-236) operated primarily in the eastern Mediterranean with Turkish ships, protecting American and Turkish interests in the area during the conflict which followed the Russian revolution. USS Humphreys (DD-236) did surveying work and acted as station and communications ship. She sailed from Constantinople 6 August 1921, arriving Newport, R.I. 23 August, and spent the rest of the year in training operations.

USS Humphreys (DD-236) spent the next 2 years on ship and fleet training exercises in Atlantic and Caribbean waters. She sailed 21 January 1925 via the Canal Zone for San Diego, and after her arrival 12 March took part in important fleet Maneuvers off the California coast. USS Humphreys (DD-236) maintained this operational pattern until decommissioning at Philadelphia 10 January 1930, taking part in annual reserve training cruises during the summers 1926-29. USS Humphreys (DD-236) recommissioned at Philadelphia 13 June 1932, and sailed 15 August for maneuvers on the West Coast. The ship took part in two fleet problems, vital tools in perfecting equipment and tactics, before sailing 19 April 1934 for New York. Upon her arrival 31 May USS Humphreys (DD-236) resumed her readiness operations on the East Coast, taking part in a fleet exercise off Haiti in October. 

She remained on the West Coast, with occasional voyages to Pearl Harbor and Midway, until deemed too old and the warship decommissioned at San Diego on 14 September 1938. The veteran ship recommissioned once more 26 September 1939 as the beginning of the war in Europe necessitated an increase in America's readiness. USS Humphreys (DD-236) conducted shakedown off San Diego and sailed 13 November to join the Neutrality Patrol in the Caribbean, designed to protect American shipping.

USS Humphreys (DD-236) was in San Diego when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war 7 December 1941. During the critical early months she operated as a coastal escort ship between San Pedro and Seattle, but in May she sailed northward to Kodiak, Alaska, arriving 31 May 1942. The veteran ship was reclassifled APD-12 on 1 December 1942; and, following shakedown training, arrived Pearl Harbor 31 December to prepare for duty in the western Pacific. After amphibious training in Hawaiian waters, the ship sailed to Noumea 22 January 1943 and began ferrying troops and supplies from advance bases to Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida Island. 

The ship arrived Ulithi 23 January 1945 and took on a new duty, screening logistics groups during at-sea replenishment and refueling of the wide-ranging carrier striking forces. As an important preliminary to the main landings on Okinawa, USS Humphreys (APD-12) took part in the assault of Keise Shima 31 March, screening LST's and performing escort duties until 3 April when she sailed for Ulithi. This last and largest of Pacific landings was then well underway, and the ship escorted resupply convoys from Ulithi to bitterly contested Okinawa until returning to Pearl Harbor 4 June 1945. From there she sailed to San Diego where she was reclassified DD-236 on 20 July 1945. USS Humphreys (DD-236) decommissioned 26 October 1945.

For a complete history of USS Humphreys (DD-236/APD-12) please see its DANFS page.