USS Little (DD-803)

The second Little (DD-803) was laid down on 13 September 1943 at Seattle, Wash., by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Co. (soon to be renamed Todd-Pacific Shipyard); launched on 22 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Dorothy P. O’Hara, wife of Russell F. O’Hara, President of the California State Bar Association; and commissioned on 19 August 1944, Cmdr. Madison Hall Jr., in command.

Assigned to Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 58, Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 115, Little commenced fitting out activities in the Puget Sound (Wash.) area. Departing from Pier 91 at the Naval Supply Depot in Seattle on 8 September 1944, the destroyer proceeded to San Diego, Calif., for shakedown training. Upon her arrival on 12 September, she began several weeks of underway exercises in essential destroyer skill areas including antisubmarine tactics, gunnery, antiaircraft tracking, radar calibration, torpedo launching, sonar usage, and towing operations, culminating in the completion of a battle problem on 20 October.

On the morning of 12 November 1944, Little steamed to Port Angeles, Wash., where the following day the destroyer rendezvoused with a convoy consisting of merchantmen Russell Sage, Franklin MacVeagh, Samuel Gompers, Nathaniel Currier, Richard Mansfield, Alexander Baranof, Windemere Park, and Jotunfjell . Little and the escort ship O’Neill (DE-188), which joined the group on the 14th, accompanied the convoy to Pearl Harbor, T.H., arriving on the afternoon of 23 November.

Continue to the full service history →About 2,892 words

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Little II (DD-803)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.