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USS Drayton (DD-366), 1936-1946

USS Drayton, a 1500-ton Mahan class destroyer, was built at Bath, Maine. Commissioned at the beginning of September 1936, she visited Europe during her shakedown cruise later in the year and went to the Pacific in June 1937. Upon her arrival in the big ocean, Drayton participated in the search for Amelia Earhart, then settled into a routine of exercises and training along the West Coast and in Hawaiian waters, with occasional visits to the Caribbean for U.S. Fleet maneuvers. In October 1939 her home port was changed from San Diego, California, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Drayton was at sea with the aircraft carrier Lexington. During the first months of the resulting war she escorted shipping to Christmas Island and Fiji and was in the screen of the carrier Enterprise during raids in the central Pacific. The destroyer had a brief overhaul at Mare Island, California, in April 1942 and operated off the West Coast and Hawaii for the next half year. In November she went to the south Pacific to join the ongoing fight for Guadalcanal, participating in the Battle of Tassafaronga at month's end. From then until March 1944 she was busy rolling back Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands, the New Guinea area and in the Bismarcks. In addition to escort duties, she took part in bombardments of shore facilities and in several amphibious assaults.



After Drayton's second wartime overhaul at Mare Island, completed in late June 1944, she trained in Hawaii and performed patrol duties in the Marshall Islands. Returning to New Guinea in October, she was sent to the Philippines to support the Leyte campaign. On 5 December 1944 she was damaged by suicide plane attacks, which killed eight of her crew. From January to April 1945 Drayton was active in the effort to liberate the Philippines, taking part in the Lingayen Gulf invasion and several other landings. She finished her combat service with participation in assaults on Borneo during May, June and July. Early in August, shortly before the fighting ended, Drayton was sent back to the U.S., arriving at New York in mid-September. She was decommissioned in October 1945 and sold for scrapping in December 1946.

USS Drayton was named in honor of Captain Percival Drayton, USN (1812-1865), who performed notable service during the Civil War.

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