The seventh USS Morris, DD 417, flagship of Destroyer Squadron Two in World War II, was a ship of many distinctions.
   Built at Norfolk Navy Yard with sister Wainwright and commissioned

Four views of Morris showing her changing radar suite. Click on any image to view it in more detail.

there, 5 March 1940, the eighth ship of the Sims class, Morris was named for

Destroyer Squadron 2 1 October 1941 USS Morris, DD 417, Flagship Destroyer Division 3 USS Anderson, DD 411, Flagship USS Hammann, DD 412 USS Hughes, DD 410 USS Sims, DD 409 Destroyer Division 4 USS Mustin, DD 413, Flagship USS Russell, DD 414 USS O’Brien, DD 415 USS Walke, DD 416

Commodore Charles Morris, “instrumental in bringing the fledgling US Navy through its early trials*.”
   Her first commanding officer was Comdr. Harry B. (“Uncle Beanie”) Jarrett, USN, under whom she operated in the North Atlantic Patrol as flagship of Destroyer Squadron 2 from the summer of 1941. In December, while other ships of the squadron transferred to the Pacific, Morris remained at Charleston where she became the first US destroyer fitted with fire control radar (see photos).
   Rejoining her squadron at Pearl Harbor in February 1942, Morris was present at both the Battles of the Coral Sea and of Midway in May and June. She was damaged at the former while rescuing 500 crewmembers of the sinking carrier Lexington, CV 2. Quickly repaired at Pearl Harbor, she picked up 193 Yorktown shipmates when that carrier was torpedoed during the latter battle. Then in October, during the Guadalcanal campaign, she took off more than 500 survivors

Three views of Morris at Mare Island, 1943, showing modifications.

of the sinking Hornet, CV 8, following the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, again damaging her superstructure.
   In May 1943, Morris was transferred to the Aleutian Islands; then overhauled before returning to the Central Pacific. During the Gilbert Islands operation, she stood by a sinking carrier for a

Three views of Morris at Kerama Retto, 1945, showing kamikaze damage.

fourth time—Liscome Bay, CVE 56. She also participated in the Marshall Islands operation, the occupation of New Guinea, the landings at Leyte and the occupation of the Philippines.
   On 6 April 1945, off Okinawa, Morris was crashed on the forecastle by a “Kate” bomber carrying a heavy bomb or torpedo. The explosion heavily damaged her bow, blew out plating on her starboard side and caused fires, which spread quickly and continued to burn for more than two hours. After temporary repairs at Kerama Retto off Okinawa, she departed 22 May and arrived at Hunters Point, San Francisco 18 June.
   Although repairs were begun, they were suspended when Japan’s war effort collapsed. Morris decommissioned 9 November 1945, was struck from the Naval Register 28 November, was stripped and sold to Franklin Shipwrecking 2 August 1947, and finally was scrapped at Terminal Island by National Metal & Steel Corp. in 1949.
   Morris earned 15 battle stars during her World War II career.

Charles Morris, “ … instrumental in bringing the fledgling US Navy through its early trials and in plotting a course to the greatness that would follow,”* served in the Navy for 57 years.    Born at Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1784, he joined the Navy at the age of 15, during the Quasi-War with France.    During the Barbary Wars in 1804, in bomb ketch Intrepid under Lt. Stephen Decatur, he participated the raid to burn the former US frigate Philadelphia, which had been stranded and captured at Tripoli.    During the War of 1812, as first lieutenant in Constitution under Capt. Isaac Hull, it was he that suggested kedging to escape a five-ship British squadron chasing her off New Jersey. A month later, Constitution defeated HMS Guerriere off Boston.    Promoted commodore, Morris twice served in the South Atlantic, flying his flag in frigate Constellation in 1819–20 and ship-of-the-line Chase of the Constitution by Anton Otto Fischer Delaware in 1841–44. He also served in many key posts—Navy Commissioner from 1823 to 1827; Chief of the Bureau of Construction Equipment and Repairs from 1844 to 1847; and Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography (with responsibility for the then-new Naval Academy) in the 1850s.    He died in 1856.    In 1880—eighteen years before the official start of its book-publishing program—the Naval Institute published his autobiography as an issue of Proceedings magazine. It is now available again.