USS Ringgold (DD-500)

Cadwallader Ringgold was born in Washington County, Md., on 20 August 1802, and entered the U.S. Navy in 1819. He commanded the schooner Weazel in action against West Indies pirates during the late 1820s and later served on board Vandalia in the Pacific and Adams in the Mediterranean. During 1838-42, he participated in the Wilkes Expedition in the Pacific, commanding Porpoise from 1840. Inactive in the later 1850s, he returned to the fleet during the Civil War . While in command of the frigate Sabine he effected the rescue of a battalion of marines whose transport steamer had gone inshore and also of the ship of the line Vermont which had lost her rudder in a storm. Promoted to commodore in 1862, he was placed on the rear admiral (retired) list in 1866. Rear Admiral Ringgold died at New York on 29 April 1867.

The second Ringgold (DD-500) was laid down on 25 June 1942 at Kearny, N.J., by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; launched on 11 November 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Arunah Sheperdson Abell, grand niece of Rear Adm. Cadwallader Ringgold; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N,.Y.,, on 24 December 1942, Cmdr. Thomas F. Conley in command.

Shakedown, which took Ringgold from the New York Navy Yard to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and back, extended through 18 February 1943. Additional training maneuvers kept her operating in the vicinity of Trinidad until mid-July. Departing New York en route to the Pacific on 21 July, she transited the Panama Canal on the 27th and reported to Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet, at Pearl Harbor, TYerritory of Hawaii, where she hoisted the pennant of Commander, Destroyer Division 50.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Ringgold II (DD-500)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.