Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 July 1942.
1942 photo of the Porter. She still carries the 1.1/75 quad mount behind #2 turret and her aft mount has been relocated to port to make room for a 20mm mount to starboard.	Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 July 1942.
	Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 4 November 1941, following her last pre-war overhaul. Note that an "FC" radar antenna has been fitted to her main battery director. Her mast has been modified to receive the antenna for an "SC" radar set, but the antenna has not yet been installed.
Off Yorktown, Virginia, 19 April 1939.

    New York Shipbuilding Co., of Camden, New Jersey (which had designed the vessel) was given the contract to build the class leader, USS PORTER. She was laid down on December 18, 1933 and launched almost exactly two years later. Her commissioning ceremonies were held in Philadelphia 23 August 1936. DD-356 was the third vessel to bear the name of PORTER.

    USS PORTER completed her shakedown in Northern European waters in the early spring of 1937, then participated in coronation celebrations for the new King of Great Britain, George VI, at St. John's, Newfoundland. Like many of the newly-constructed, "longer-legged" destroyers, she was subsequently transferred to the West Coast, transiting the Panama Canal, where she served out the remaining prewar years with the Pacific Fleet Battle Force, home-ported in San Diego.

    DD-356 sailed from Pearl Harbor on December 5, 1941, escorting the carriers of the Pacific fleet on their way to Guam and Wake islands, bringing new fighters to the outposts. Fortune had kept her at sea during the attack by the Japanese on the fleet anchorage.  She patrolled vigorously with cruisers and destroyers in the Hawaiian waters. Ironically, PORTER's design almost led to her undoing in the frantic days immediately after the Japanese treachery.

    As the carriers returned to Pearl, Rear Admiral William Halsey, commanding the carrier task group, ordered the launch of a scout force in an effort to locate the raiders. One veteran pilot sighted what he believed to be an enemy carrier, escorted by a cruiser, and a strike was launched. The pilots, bent on revenge, dropped two bombs on the "carrier" and made several passes at the "cruiser" before the attack was broken off. The pilot reported that the carrier had the plan of a cruiser painted on her deck to confuse air attackers. Subsequent debriefings proved that the "carrier" was the USS PORTLAND (CA-33), being escorted by USS PORTER. Fortunately, the bombs missed. PORTER spent the next several months providing security for convoys shuttling between Hawaii and the West Coast.

    In October 1942, Task Force 16 was ordered to the Solomons to reinforce naval forces around Guadalcanal. USS PORTER would screen the carriers. In the wild melee that came to be known as the Battle of Santa Cruz Island, planes from USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6) located a Japanese carrier force and traded attacks. PORTER steamed to rescue a downed American pilot when her lookouts spotted torpedo wakes forward and astern. The third torpedo hit engineering spaces. USS SHAW (DD-373) was able to take off survivors, then sank DD-356 with gunfire on October 26, 1942.

    Her name was struck from the Navy List on 2 November 1942.  For her valiant service in WWII, USS Porter earned one battle star for World War II service, which is represented by a star on the crest of the fifth USS Porter DDG-78.

From Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

Porter III

(DD-356: dp. 1,850, l.381'0"; b. 36'2", dr. 10'5", s. 35 k cpl. 238; a. 8 5", 8 40mm, 8 21" tt., 2 dct.; CL Porter).

    The third Porter (DD-356) was laid down by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J., 18 December 1933; launched 12 December 1935; sponsored by Miss Carlile Patterson Porter, and commissioned at Philadelphia 25 August 1936, Comdr. Forrest B. Royal in command.

    After shakedown in waters off northern Europe, Porter visited St. John's, Newfoundland, for coronation ceremonies in honor of George VI in May 1937 and was at the Washington Navy Yard during the Boy Scout Jamboree, June July 1937. Then reassigned to the Pacific Fleet she transited the Panama Canal and arrived at San Francisco 5 August 1937. She operated continuously with the Pacific Fleet until the outbreak of World War II, homeported at San Diego.

    On 5 December 1941, Porter got underway from Pearl Harbor, escaping the Japanese attack by two days. She patrolled with cruisers and destroyers in Hawaiian waters before steaming in convoy 25 March 1942 for the west coast.

    She operated off the west coast with TF 1 for the next 4 months. Returning to Pearl Harbor in mid-August, she trained in Hawaiian waters until 16 October when she sortied with TF 16 and headed for the Solomons. On 26 October 1942, TF 16 exchanged air attacks with strong Japanese forces northeast of Guadalcanal in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. During the ensuing action, Porter was torpedoed by a submarine and, after the crew had abandoned ship, was sunk by gunfire from Shaw. Her name was struck from the Navy List 2 November 1942.

    Porter earned one battle star for World War II service.

References Used for this page:

1) Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships

2) Naval Historical Center, Dep. of Navy, Wash. HyperWar: World War II on the World Wide Web

America at War:  WWII (1945)