Allied Warships

USS William D. Porter (DD 579)

Destroyer of the Fletcher class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Fletcher
Pennant	DD 579
Built by	Consolidated Steel Corp., Ltd. (Orange, Texas, U.S.A.)
Ordered	9 Sep 1940
Laid down	7 May 1942
Launched	27 Sep 1942
Commissioned	6 Jul 1943
Lost	10 Jun 1945
Loss position	27° 06'N, 127° 38'E

History	(Cdr. Charles Melville Keyes, USN) was sunk by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft north-west of Okinawa in position 27º06'N, 127º38'E; All the crew survived and were rescued by USS LCS 86 and USS LCS 122 though 61 were wounded.

Commands listed for USS William D. Porter (DD 579)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

	Commander	From	To
1	T/Cdr. Wilfred Aves Walter, USN	6 Jul 1943	14 Nov 1943
2	T/Cdr. Charles Melville Keyes, USN	14 Nov 1943	10 Jun 1945

You can help improve our commands section
Click here to Submit events/comments/updates for this vessel.
Please use this if you spot mistakes or want to improve this ships page.

Notable events involving William D. Porter include:

13 Nov 1943
USS Iowa (Capt. J.L. McCrea, USN) departed Chesapeake Bay for Mers El Kebir, Algeria. She is escorted by USS Cogswell (Cdr. H.T. Deutermann, USN), USS William D. Porter (Cdr. W.A. Walter, USN) and USS Young (Cdr. G.B. Madden, USN).

Iowa had on board President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Chief of Staff Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff of the Army General George C. Marshall, Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces Henry Arnold, Harry Hopkins to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, This was the first leg of their journey to the Tehran Conference.

For the daily positions of USS Iowa during this passage see the map below.