Name USS Harold J. Ellison Commissioned 23 June 1945 Struck 1 October 1983 Launched 14 March 1945 Builder Staten Island | Laid down 3 October 1944 Decommissioned 1 October 1983 Construction started 3 October 1944 Length 119 m | |
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Namesake Ensign Harold John Ellison (1917-1942), a U.S. Navy officer and Navy Cross recipient | ||
USS Harold J. Ellison (DD-864), a Gearing-class destroyer, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Ensign Harold John Ellison, a naval aviator who died during the Battle of Midway. (An earlier destroyer escort assigned the name, USS Harold J. Ellison (DE-545) was cancelled in 1944).
Harold J. Ellison (DD-864) was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Staten Island, New York on 3 October 1944, launched on 14 March 1945 by Mrs. Audrey Ellison, the widow of Ensign Ellison and commissioned on 23 June 1945.
Service history
Beginning in 1947, when she sailed from Norfolk on 10 November, Harold J. Ellison added periodic cruises to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet to her operations, helping to keep the peace and protect American interests in this vital area. She participated in the search for lost British submarine HMS Affray in April 1951, and added cruises to the Caribbean and northern Europe in 1953.
From 1954 to 1956 she continued tactical training along the East Coast and participated in European cruises. Following the explosive Suez crisis, Harold J. Ellison, took part in vital peacekeeping operation during 1957 as the 6th Fleet helped stabilize the incident in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The following summer the Lebanon crisis occurred as the government of Lebanon experienced a division between pro-Western and pro-Arab sides. The veteran destroyer screened aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-60) and heavy cruiser Des Moines (CA-134) from July to September 1958 while the 6th Fleet landed Marines at the request of Lebanese President Camille Chamoun.
Harold J. Ellison alternated operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean with the 2nd Fleet with deployments to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet, was assigned to Project Mercury as a part of the recovery unit on the Atlantic range in 1962, underwent an extensive Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM) overhaul at the New York Naval Shipyard, and served as plane guard for carriers on "Yankee Station" in the Tonkin Gulf, participated in "Sea Dragon" operations, patrolled on search and rescue duties and carried out naval gunfire support missions during the Vietnam War.
Harold J. Ellison was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 October 1983, transferred to Pakistan and renamed Shah Jahan. The ship was scrapped in 1994.