Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War

United States Navy — Destroyer

USS Ellis (DD-154) — service history

This is the full service history. For the vessel's particulars, photograph and specifications, see the entry.

In the words of the US Navy. The account below is reproduced verbatim from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command — a work of the United States Government, in the public domain, and the only text on this site not written here.

Before commissioning

USS Ellis (DD-154)
View of part of about 100 U.S. Navy destroyers that saw action in the First World in storage at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pennsylvania (USA), on April 1923. Note that the guns and other vital parts that are exposed to the weather are covered with grease so that the ships could be ready for service at a moment's notice. When in commission each carried 115 enlisted men and 7 officers. One of U.S. Navy — Official U.S. Navy photo NH 69126 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons

George Henry Ellis born in Peoria, Ill., in 1875, enlisted in the Navy in 1892. Chief Yeoman Ellis was killed 3 July 1898 while serving in Brooklyn during the Battle of Santiago. DD-154 was named in his honor.

Great War and before

1918

The second Ellis (Destroyer No. 154) was launched 30 November 1918 by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa.; sponsored by Mrs. E. T. Stotesbury; and commissioned 7 June 1919, Lieutenant Commander T. E. Van Metre in command. She was reclassified AG-115 on 30 June 1945.

Interwar 1919–1938

1919

Ellis' first cruise, between 16 June 1919 and 15 August, was to the Black Sea, carrying Food Administration officials for famine relief work, and British and American military officers between Constantinople, Turkey; Varna, Bulgaria; and Batum, Russia. She returned to a year of exercises on the east coast and in the Caribbean. From 29 September 1920 to 16 March 1921 she was in reserve at Charleston. She sailed north to fire test torpedoes off Newport, lay again at Charleston from October 1921 through February 1922. On 27 February she entered Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she was out of commission from 17 June 1922 to 1 May 1930.

1932

Ellis served with the Scouting Fleet along the east coast, off Panama and Cuba, and from March 1932 through October in exercises between San Diego and San Francisco. She was in rotating reserve at Norfolk and Boston in 1932 and 1933. In April 1933 she searched for the ill-fated airship Akron, and found wreckage off the New Jersey coast. Based on New York through the summer of 1933, she escorted the Presidential yacht along the New England coast to Campobello, Nova Scotia, where on 1 July she embarked President F. D. Roosevelt and his party, transferring them to Indian apolis (CA-35). She escorted Indianapolis to Annapolis, where the President again visited Ellis on 4 July. She also trained members of the Naval Reserve before departing New York 8 September for Key West.

1934

The next year, Ellis cruised to Cuba, again escorted the President, this time in a private yacht, and on 24 October 1934 passed through the Panama Canal to be based on San Diego. Training operations took her to Alaska and Hawaii during the next year and a half, and on 7 June 1936 she returned to Miami for east coast reserve training duty until decommissioned at Philadelphia 16 December 1936.

Second World War 1939–1945

1939

Ellis was recommissioned 16 October 1939, and from her bases at Charleston and Norfolk, patrolled the east coast concentrating on antisubmarine warfare. Between 22 June and 21 July 1941, she sailed from Newport to escort transports carrying the first Marines to the occupation of Iceland, and a month later sailed to base at Argentia for escort duty to Iceland and to midocean rendezvous.

1942

Returning at intervals to Boston for replenishment and repairs, she served thus until March 1942, when her operations were extended to the Virgin Islands. She escorted coastal convoys, on 15 July 1942 attacking a submarine off Cape Hatteras. From October 1942, she also guarded convoy routes between Trinidad and Brazil, and in March 1943 was assigned to transatlantic convoys.

1943

Between 20 March 1943 and 25 June, Ellis escorted two top priority tanker convoys with Aruba oil for north Africa, then troop transports to Londonderry. From August to November, she twice guarded escort carriers ferrying Army planes to Ireland and north Africa. Ellis escorted SS Abraham, Lincoln to the Azores in January 1944, and while on patrol there rescued two downed British pilots. Returning to north African convoy duty, Ellis made two voyages from the east coast to Casablanca, Algiers, and Bizerte between February and June. On 11 May, off Bizerte, she was attacked by four bombers, three of which she had a hand in splashing, and drove the fourth away.

1945

The remainder of the war, Ellis guarded carriers training pilots, experimented with torpedo aircraft, twice made escort voyages to Recife, Brazil. She was decommissioned at Norfolk 31 October 1945 and sold 20 June 1947.

Other photographs

Held for this vessel, and not tied to any part of the account above.

USS Ellis (DD-154)
View of the waterfront of the U.S. Navy Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Pensylvania (USA), looking out into the Delaware River, circa in 1921. Visible ships include (left to right): the seplane tender USS Wright (AV-1), the submarine tender USS Fulton (AS-1), the cargo ship USS Gold Star (AK-12), the fleet oiler USS Kaweah (AO-15), the stores ship USS Yukon (AF-9), the destroyer tender USS Dobbin (AD Unknown author — U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo S-574-J — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
USS Ellis (DD-154)
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Ellis (DD-154) docked at Miami, Florida (USA), circa in the 1930s. She was recommissioned 1 May 1930 and decommissioned on 16 December 1936. Unknown author — Photo PR77960 from the collections of the Florida Memory Project — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
USS Ellis (DD-154)
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Ellis (DD-154) passing under the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City. Ellis was in commission for three periods: 7 June 1919 to 17 June 1922, 1 May 1930 to 16 December 1936, and 16 October 1939 to 31 October 1945. The photo was taken in the 1930s, due to the style of the hull number. U.S. Navy — Official U.S. Navy photo NH 67731 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
USS Ellis (DD-154)
The Micro Serial Number is listed as 63495. Department of the Navy. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Intelligence Division. Office of Naval Records and Library. (1922 - 10/10/1945) — This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference as part of a cooperation project. The donation was facilitated by the Digital Public Library of America , via its partner Digital Public Library of America . Record in source catalog DPLA identifier: cdb4aaa9f004c3a7489e2a23d06b3354 National Archives Identifier: 78272842 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons

References

Every work this entry draws on. There are no numbered markers in the text above: what we hold is the provenance of the page — this history, this article, these photographs.

  1. History Ellis II (Destroyer No. 154) Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Naval History and Heritage Command. A work of the United States Government, in the public domain — the only text on this site reproduced verbatim.
  2. Facts USS Ellis (DD-154) Structured facts only — dates, dimensions, armament and fate. No wording is taken from it. Harvested 1 August 2026.
  3. Photograph USSEllisDD154 U.S. Navy — U.S. Navy photo [1] from Navsource.org — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
  4. Photograph Destroyers mothballed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in April 1923 U.S. Navy — Official U.S. Navy photo NH 69126 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
  5. Photograph Ships at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, circa in 1921 (S-574-J) Unknown author — U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo S-574-J — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
  6. Photograph USS Ellis (DD-154) docked at Miami, Florida (USA), circa in the 1930s (PR77960) Unknown author — Photo PR77960 from the collections of the Florida Memory Project — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
  7. Photograph USS Ellis (DD-154) passing under the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1930s U.S. Navy — Official U.S. Navy photo NH 67731 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons
  8. Photograph USS ELLIS - War Diary, 12-1-31-43 - DPLA - cdb4aaa9f004c3a7489e2a23d06b3354 Department of the Navy. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Intelligence Division. Office of Naval Records and Library. (1922 - 10/10/1945) — This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by National Archives at College Park - Textual Reference as part of a cooperation project. The donation was facilitated by the Digital Public Library of America , via its partner Digital Public Library of America . Record in source catalog DPLA identifier: cdb4aaa9f004c3a7489e2a23d06b3354 National Archives Identifier: 78272842 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons