USS Harrison (DD-573) was a of the United States Navy. She was second Navy ship of that name.
Namesake
Napoleon Bonaparte Harrison was born on 19 February 1823 in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia. He was appointed a midshipman on 26 February 1838 and received promotion to passed midshipman on 20 May 1844. Serving in California during the Mexican–American War on , he was a volunteer in the expedition to rescue General Philip Kearny's command, and spent five days en route from San Francisco to Monterey in a small boat carrying despatches.
He was promoted to master on 2 April 1852 and then to Lieutenant on 6 January 1853. From 1857 to 1859, he served as a division officer aboard during the sloop-of-war's tour as flagship of the U.S. Navy's Africa Squadron. In April 1862, Harrison commanded the gunboat at the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, leading the battle line past the forts and up the Mississippi River to New Orleans. He was promoted to Commander on 16 July 1862. He later commanded the gunboat in the James River Flotilla, the frigate in the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and various ships in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. After the fall of Charleston in 1865, he served at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine.
Following the Civil War, he taught at the United States Naval Academy. He was promoted to captain on 28 April 1868 and served as Commandant of Midshipmen in 1868–1870, before taking command of his last ship, the sloop . He died on 27 October 1870 at Key West, Florida.
Construction and commissioning
Harrison was launched by Consolidated Steel Corporation, Orange, Tex., 4 May 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Harry B. Hird; and commissioned 25 January 1943.
1943
Following shakedown training in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, Harrison escorted a merchant ship to the Panama Canal Zone, and sailed for New York. The ship arrived New York 6 April and Charleston 2 days later. She then joined a convoy out of New York for Casablanca, and after touching at several points in the Mediterranean returned 1 June to Charleston. Harrison was then assigned to anti-submarine exercises in Caribbean waters with carrier , after which she performed escort duty in the area until 22 July 1943.
Harrison was assigned in mid-1943 to the Pacific Fleet, where the crescendo of amphibious war was beginning. Departing with carrier from Norfolk, Virginia 22 July, the ship arrived Pearl Harbor 9 August and spent the next days training for the important amphibious operations which were to come. Her job was to screen the carriers as their aircraft softened up Japanese-held islands, and the task group got underway 22 August for strikes against Marcus, Wake, and Tarawa, interspersed with short resupply stops at Pearl Harbor. With these vital preliminary operations complete, Harrison departed 21 October for duty in the Solomons, long the scene of bitter fighting both on land and sea.
She arrived Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, 4 November and departed the next day, arriving at Empress Augusta Bay on 7 November, Bougainville, to screen transports carrying reinforcements. As she patrolled off the bay, where Marines had landed 1 November, the Japanese launched a fierce night attack with dive bombers and torpedo planes 8–9 November. Harrisons gunners accounted for at least one plane during the battle. The destroyer departed 14 November for the Gilberts operation and again screened transports as they put initial assault troops ashore 20 November. Harrison remained off "bloody Tarawa" until 29 November, when she took up patrol off Makin. The ship then sailed to Funafuti 7 December and engaged in training exercises before anchoring at Pearl Harbor 1 January 1944. She remained in Hawaiian waters for most of January taking part in fire support exercises for impending invasion of the Marshall Islands.
1944
Harrison sailed with the Southern Attack Force 22 January, and arrived off Kwajalein 31 January. She screened battleships and while the larger ships pounded shore installations, and sank a small tanker with her guns as the Japanese ship attempted to escape from the lagoon. As the Marines landed on Kwajalein and advanced over the numerous islands in the atoll, Harrison entered the lagoon 4 February and rendered close fire support. She spent the next 4 weeks patrolling offshore and anchored in the lagoon, departing 1 March for Efate, New Hebrides.