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USS Litchfield (DD-336)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Litchfield (DD-336)

USS Litchfield (DD-336) was laid down 15 January 1919 by Mare Island Navy Yard; launched 12 August 1919; sponsored by Mrs. Martha D. Litchfield, mother of Pharmacist's Mate Litchfield; and commissioned 12 May 1920, Lt. Comdr. J. F. McClain in command.

This new flush-decker sailed to Bremerton, Wash., on her shakedown cruise but her initial tour on the west coast was brief. Before the end of 1921 USS Litchfield (DD-336) had departed San Diego and arrived Charleston, S.C. Following the annual fleet maneuvers, USS Litchfield (DD-336) steamed to Newport, R.I., to join Division 39 for duty in the eastern Mediterranean, arriving Constantinople 28 June 1922.

The following fall USS Litchfield (DD-336) returned to the United States and entered the New York Navy Yard 30 October 1923 for overhaul. USS Litchfield (DD-336) joined Destroyer Squadron 12 based at San Diego 24 May 1924. In April 1937, USS Litchfield (DD-336)as part of the battle fleet, changed her permanent base from the west coast to Pearl Harbor. On 20 May she became flagship of Submarine Squadron 4, Submarine Force, Pearl Harbor, and continued to operate with submarines as war approached and training drills intensified during 1941.

With the outbreak of war in the Pacific, USS Litchfield (DD-336)'duties involved the escort of U.S. submarines both in and out of port and antisubmarine patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor. Several times she made depth charge runs but no kills were confirmed prior to her departure 6 November 1943 for overhaul at Bremerton, Wash. Upon her return to Pearl Harbor 14 January 1944, USS Litchfield (DD-336) escorted a series of convoys to Midway and Eniwetok. Twice near Midway, she rescued crews of downed patrol planes and she salvaged a PBM 8 August. USS Litchfield (DD-336) also conducted submarine training exercises in the vicinity of each of these two bases. On 17 March 1945 an escort mission brought her to Guam, her furthest wartime penetration of the western Pacific. While performing escort and training duties with U.S. submarines at Guam on 31 March, USS Litchfield (DD-336) was redesignated AG-95, a miscellaneous auxiliary. Ending these duties 21 July, she arrived San Diego 9 August. The next week the Board of Inspectors recommended USS Litchfield (DD-336) be scrapped. Arriving Philadelphia in October, she decommissioned 5 November and was struck from the Navy Register 28 November.

For a complete history of USS Litchfield (DD-336) please see its DANFS page.