History
The Benham class was a group of ten destroyers constructed in the late 1930s under the displacement limitations of the London Naval Treaty. Designed as a follow-up to the Gridley and Bagley classes, these ships introduced advanced high-pressure boilers that allowed for a reduction in size and weight, improving internal space while maintaining combat capabilities. The class was fast, heavily armed with torpedoes, and capable of holding its own in fierce naval engagements.
Launched from Charleston, South Carolina, on October 27, 1938, and commissioned nearly a year later on October 15, 1939, the USS Sterett began her career with exercises and patrols out of Pearl Harbor before shifting to neutrality patrols in the Atlantic alongside the carrier USS Wasp in 1941. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, she was deployed to the East Coast and then escorted convoys to Iceland before transferring to the Pacific via San Diego and arriving in the Fiji Islands in mid-1942.
Sterett’s war record escalated rapidly in intensity throughout the Solomon Islands campaign. In November 1942, while escorting a convoy to Guadalcanal, she prepared for an air attack after enemy aircraft were spotted by coastwatchers. In the ensuing engagement, she downed four Japanese torpedo bombers while evading multiple torpedoes. That night, Sterett joined a US surface force to intercept a Japanese naval task force off Savo Island. She engaged Japanese destroyers and battleships, reportedly delivering torpedo hits on Hiei. During the fierce exchanges, Sterett was struck multiple times on her port side and forced to withdraw with her guns and torpedo launchers disabled. She was routed back to San Francisco for two months of repairs.
Returning to action in early 1943, Sterett resumed convoy escort and anti-reinforcement patrols between the Solomons and Bismarcks. On August 6, 1943, she participated in the Battle of Vella Gulf, a rare night engagement where US destroyers ambushed a Japanese force attempting to land troops and supplies. In the battle, three of four enemy destroyers were sunk in a coordinated torpedo and gun attack. Sterett and her group claimed the destruction of over 1,500 enemy personnel and large amounts of supplies, a significant blow to Japanese efforts in the region.
Sterett remained active into 1944, supporting invasions in the Mariana and Marshalls, and later operating in the Philippines, where she performed patrol and convoy duties that involved protecting the convoy from the kamikazes during the Leyte campaign. As the war reached its final stages, she was assigned to radar picket duty off Okinawa, one of the most dangerous assignments for any ship due to the constant kamikaze threat.
On April 9, 1945, while on picket duty, Sterett was attacked by five kamikaze aircraft. She managed to shoot down three attackers, but the second and third planes slammed into her starboard side at the waterline, knocking out electrical power and severely damaging her steering, communications, and weapons systems. Despite the extensive damage, her crew performed emergency repairs and kept the ship afloat. Sterett was sent back to the United States for repairs, which took her through the summer of 1945. She was back at Pearl Harbor by September for post-repair training exercises.
Sterett’s service came to an end shortly after the war concluded. She arrived in New York in October 1945 and was decommissioned on November 2. She was sold for scrapping in August 1947, ending her career.
