Fanning Mahan-class destroyer

fanning @ sea on 18 april 1942, supporting doolittle raid on tokyo

uss fanning occupied sea trials , minor repairs first 6 months of naval service. in april 1938, escorted light cruiser philadelphia annapolis, maryland, caribbean roosevelt aboard. fanning sailed new york overhaul following month; in september moved on new base in san diego, california. on next 3 years, duties took east coast , hawaii. ship @ sea when japanese struck pearl harbor; returned following day. underway tutuila in january 1942, fanning encountered blinding rainstorm , collided gridley. both destroyers suffered bow damage , forced return pearl harbor. in april 1942 fanning became part of task force 16, supported doolittle raid on air strike against tokyo. after mission, returned pearl harbor.

for first 9 months of 1943, fanning deployed against japanese on guadalcanal, supported occupation force on russell islands, participated in patrol duty, , assisted in protection of troops occupying munda, solomon islands. in september, had overhaul on west coast, finished year operating off aleutian islands. january 1944, fanning operating task group 58.4 in marshall islands. in march reported eastern fleet (british units, reinforced australian, dutch , french warships), participating in strikes against sabang, indonesia, next month. detached eastern fleet in may, fanning sailed west coast. in july left san diego, escorting heavy cruiser baltimore alaska roosevelt on board. next assignment task group 30.2, shelling marcus island in october 1944 create diversion , destroy enemy installations. during january 1945, fanning took part in shelling of iwo jima, haha-jima, , chichi-jima. remainder of war, occupied patrol , escort activities. in september 1945, sailed united states, , decommissioned @ norfolk, virginia, in december 1945; sold scrap in 1948. fanning received 4 battle stars world war ii service.