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USS Jarvis (DD-393)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Jarvis (DD-393)

USS Jarvis (DD-393) was laid down on 21 August 1935 at Bremerton, Wash., by the Puget Sound Navy Yard; launched on 6 May 1937; sponsored by Mrs. Antoinette M. Craven, wife of Vice Adm. Thomas T. Craven, Commandant Thirteenth Naval District and Puget Sound Navy Yard; and commissioned on 27 October 1937, Lt. Cmdr. Robert R. Ferguson in command.

USS Jarvis (DD-393) cleared Puget Sound on 4 January 1938, and carried out her shakedown training out of San Diego, Calif., a voyage that took her southward to Magdalena Bay, Mexico. The ship then (12 February–6 May) returned to Puget Sound and completed alterations, following which, USS Jarvis (DD-393) operated along the California coast with Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 6. USS Jarvis (DD-393) sometimes shifted temporarily between coasts for exercises, such as the annual fleet problems, which concentrated the Navy’s power to conduct maneuvers on the largest scale and under the most realistic conditions attainable.

The destroyer then (1–10 April 1940) set out from San Diego for fleet exercises off the Hawaiian Islands, and entered Pearl Harbor, T.H., on 26 April. Operating from Pearl, USS Jarvis (DD-393) cruised the Pacific to Midway and Johnston Islands, and on 8 February 1941, set out for an overhaul at San Francisco, Calif., which she began on the 24th of that month. Returning to Pearl Harbor on 17 April to commence more than seven months of intensive maneuvers and battle practice, USS Jarvis (DD-393) put into Pearl Harbor on 4 December following exercises off Maui Island. 

Steaming from Sydney on 14 July, USS Jarvis (DD-393) arrived at Wellington, New Zealand, on the 19th to join TF 62, which sailed on 22 July for the Solomons. After conducting rehearsal landings in the Fiji Islands (28–30 July), the invasion force of more than 80 ships and 16,000 marines steamed for Guadalcanal on 31 July. Rain and heavy mist protected the ships from Japanese search planes and they arrived off the landing beaches at dawn on 7 August. Navy Communiqué No. 131 of 24 September 1942 announced the sad news to the American people: “The USS JARVIS (destroyer), which was damaged as a result of enemy air attacks off Guadalcanal, must be presumed lost at sea enroute from Tulagi to a southern repair base. 

For a complete history of USS Jarvis (DD-393) please see its DANFS page.