USS Turner (DD-648)

The second Turner (DD-648) was laid down on 15 November 1942 at Kearny, N.J., by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; launched on 28 February 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Louis E. Denfeld, wife of Rear Adm. Louis E. Denfeld; and commissioned on 15 April 1943 at the New York Navy Yard, Lt. Cmdr. Henry S. Wygant, Jr., in command.

Turner completed outfitting at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., and then conducted shakedown and antisubmarine training out of Casco Bay, Maine, until early June 1943. On the 9th, she returned to New York to prepare for her first assignment, a three-day training cruise with the newly commissioned aircraft carrier Bunker Hill (CV-17). Returning to New York on 22 June, she departed again the next day on her first real wartime assignment, service in the screen of a transatlantic convoy. First, she sailed with a portion of that convoy to Norfolk, Va., arriving that same day. On the 24th, the convoy departed Hampton Roads and shaped a course eastward across the Atlantic. After an uneventful voyage, she saw her convoy into port at Casablanca, French Morocco, on 18 July. She departed with a return convoy on the 23rd and arrived back in New York on 9 August. Later that month, she was in the screen of a convoy to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, making a brief stop at Hampton Roads along the way. On the return trip, she rendezvoused with HMS Victorious and accompanied the British carrier to Norfolk.

During the first two weeks of September 1943, Turner conducted antisubmarine training at Casco Bay, Maine, and then returned to New York to prepare for her second transatlantic voyage. On 21 September, the destroyer headed south to Norfolk. She arrived there on the 23rd and, the following day, headed out across the Atlantic with her convoy. After an 18-day passage, during which she made one depth-charge attack on a sound contact, Turner arrived at Casablanca on 12 October. Four days later, she departed again and headed for Gibraltar to join another convoy. The warship reached the strategic base on the 17th and, after two days in port, stood out to join the screen of convoy GUS-18.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Turner II (DD-648)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.