USS Sterett (DD-407) - Pre-war Years

Pre-war Years

The Sterett departed from Charleston, South Carolina on 28 October 1939 in company with two other newly-commissioned destroyers, Mustin and Hughes, for shakedown in the Gulf of Mexico. She visited Veracruz, Cristóbal, Mobile, and Guantanamo Bay before returning to Charleston on 20 December. She underwent post-shakedown overhaul and trials at Charleston until departing on 4 May 1940. Assigned to Destroyer Division 15, Sterett rendevoused with Hammann at Guantanamo Bay, and the two destroyers steamed for San Diego, California via the Panama Canal. They arrived in San Diego on 23 May; and, for a month, Sterett divided her time between training and plane-guarding Enterprise. On 24 June, she sailed for Hawaii with Enterprise and five other destroyers, and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 2 July.

She operated out of Pearl Harbor for the next 10 months, participating in a number of exercises and patrols. When Mississippi exited Pearl Harbor on 14 May 1941, the Sterett was in her screen. The warships transited the Panama Canal and arrived at Norfolk on 28 June. Sterett next screened the USS Long Island during the escort carrier's Bermuda shakedown cruise. Sterett concluded 1941 engaged in neutrality patrols with the Wasp.