U.S.S. MUGFORD

DD-389 USS Mugford

USS Mugford was built at Boston Navy Yard in Massachusetts. She was commissioned in August 1937 and made her first mission a shakedown cruise through the Atlantic and Caribbean. She then went to the Pacific and served the rest of her career fighting with the Pacific Fleet. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, USS Mugford was moored there. She put to sea, but not before engaging enemy aircraft in an attempt to protect the harbor. She later went on to serve in the Wake Island campaign and other early attacks by the U.S. as an escort and bombardment ship.

USS Mugford was sent for repairs after Guadalcanal saw her take a bomb, but then made it back to Australia and New Guinea where she took part in patrol and escort duties. She was involved in several amphibious invasions, as well, and managed to suffer a few damages and casualties as a result of an air raid. Her service went on, despite one overhaul in 1944, and another trip for repairs in early 1945, until the war had ended. Used as a target for the Bikini atomic testing, she was deemed contaminated by radioactivity, scuttled, and sunk in March 1948.