USS Johnston (DD-557)

John Vincent Johnston of Cincinnati, Ohio, entered the Navy in September 1861 as First Master in gunboat St. Louis. He assisted in the Union gunboat attacks that captured strategic Fort Henry on the Tennessee River on 6 February 1862. On the night of 1 April 1862, he was the Navy commander of a combined Army-Navy boat expedition from St. Louis which landed and spiked the guns of Fort No. 1 above the Confederate stronghold of Island No. 10. He was promoted to Acting Volunteer Lieutenant for gallantry in this expedition. After joining in the bombardments of Vicksburg, Miss., he took command of stern wheel steamer Forrest Rose to patrol the Mississippi and its tributaries. On 15 February 1864, his gunboat repelled an attack by confederate raiders, saving the town of Waterproof, La., and its federal garrison. Lt. Johnston resigned from the naval service on 23 June 1864, and died on 23 April 1912 at St. Louis, Mo.

The first Johnston (DD-557) was laid down on 6 May 1942 at Seattle, Wash., by the Seattle- Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 25 March 1943; and sponsored by Mrs. Marie S. Klinger, great-niece of Lt. Johnston.

At 1055 on 27 October 1943, with Johnston ’s officers and men at quarters aft, Lt. Maurice W. Smith, ChC, V(S), delivered the invocation, after which, at 1059, Capt. Hubert J. Stubbs, Supervisor of Shipbuilding at the Seattle-Tacoma yard, placed the new destroyer in full commission. “Immediately following the hoisting of the colors,” one observer wrote, “Lieutenant Commander Ernest E. Evans read his orders, and at 1103 assumed command.”

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Johnston I (DD-557)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.