USS Isherwood (DD-520)

USS Isherwood (DD-520)

USS Isherwood (DD-520), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Rear Admiral Benjamin F. Isherwood (1822–1915).

Isherwood was launched by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., Staten Island, N.Y., 24 November 1942, sponsored by Mrs. A. J. Kerwin, granddaughter of Rear Admiral Isherwood; and commissioned 12 April 1943 at New York Navy Yard, Commander R. E. Gadrow in command.

The new destroyer conducted her shakedown training in Casco Bay, Maine, and off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, through April and May. During the next 2 months she operated with a patrol and escort group out of NS Argentia, Newfoundland, and on 5 August 1943 departed for England with troop ship RMS Queen Mary. Isherwood arrived Scapa Flow 19 August to carry out combined operations with the British Home Fleet, including a search toward Spitzbergen for German battleship Tirpitz. Sailing 14 September, the destroyer returned to Boston with a convoy 29 September 1943.

Isherwood was subsequently reassigned to the Pacific, sailing from Boston 14 November for San Francisco. From there she steamed to Pearl Harbor and sailed 11 December to join Task Force 94 (TF 94) in the Aleutians. For the next eight months, Isherwood carried out antisubmarine sweeps of the cold Alaskan waters. In June she took part in bombardments of the Kurile Islands, finally arriving San Francisco for repairs 15 August 1944.