Allied Warships

USS Stephen Potter (DD 538)

Destroyer of the Fletcher class

Navy	The US Navy
Type	Destroyer
Class	Fletcher
Pennant	DD 538
Built by	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., (San Francisco, California, U.S.A.)
Ordered	9 Sep 1940
Laid down	27 Oct 1942
Launched	28 Apr 1943
Commissioned	21 Oct 1943
End service	21 Apr 1958
History	Decommissioned 21 September 1945. Recommissioned 29 March 1951. Decommissioned 21 April 1958. Stricken 1 December 1972. Sold 27 November 1973 and broken up for scrap.

Commands listed for USS Stephen Potter (DD 538)

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	Commander	From	To
1	Cdr. Charles Helmick Crichton, USN	21 Oct 1943	21 May 1944
2	Lt.Cdr. Leonidas Walthall Pancoast, USN	21 May 1944	28 Dec 1944
3	George Read Muse, USN	28 Dec 1944	21 Sep 1945

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Notable events involving Stephen Potter include:

12 Feb 1944
Task Force 58 departed Majuro Atoll for operation HAILSTONE, a raid against the Japanese base at Truk Atoll.

Task Force 58 was made up of the following ships;

Task Group 58.1
Aircraft carriers USS Enterprise (Capt. M.B. Gardner, USN), USS Yorktown (Capt. R.E. Jennings, USN), light carrier USS Belleau Wood (Capt. A.M. Pride, USN), light cruisers Santa Fé (Capt. J. Wright, USN), Mobile (Capt. C.J. Wheeler, USN), Biloxi (Capt. D.M. McGurl, USN), USS Oakland (Capt. W.K. Phillips, USN) and the destroyers USS Clarence K. Bronson (Lt.Cdr. J.C. McGoughran, USN), USS Cotten (Cdr. F.T. Sloat, USN), USS Dortch (Cdr. R.C. Young, USN), USS Gatling (Cdr. A.F. Richardson, USN), USS Healy (Cdr. J.C. Atkeson, USN), USS Cogswell (Cdr. H.T. Deutermann, USN), USS Caperton (Cdr. W.J. Miller, USN), USS Ingersoll (Cdr. A.C. Veasey, USN), USS Knapp (Cdr. F. Virden, USN).

Task Group 58.2
Aircraft carriers USS Essex (Capt. R.A. Ofstie, USN), USS Intrepid (Capt. T.L. Sprague, USN), light carrier USS Cabot (Capt. M.F. Schoeffel, USN), heavy cruisers USS Wichita (Capt J.J. Mahoney, USN), USS Baltimore (Capt. W.C. Calhoun, USN), light cruisers USS San Francisco (Capt. H.E. Overesch, USN), USS San Diego (Capt. L.J. Hudson, USN), destroyers USS Owen (Cdr. R.W. Wood, USN), USS Miller (Cdr. T.H. Kobey, USN), USS The Sullivans (Cdr. K.M. Gentry, USN), USS Stephen Potter (Cdr. C.H. Crichton, USN), USS Hickox (Cdr. W.M. Sweetser, USN), USS Hunt (Cdr. H.A. Knoertzer, USN), USS Lewis Hancock (Cdr. C.H. Lyman, 3rd, USN), USS Stembel (Cdr. W.L. Tagg, USN) and USS Stack (Lt.Cdr. R.E. Wheeler, USN).

Task Group 58.3
Aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (Capt. T.P. Jeter, USN), light carriers USS Monterey (Capt. L.T. Hundt, USN), USS Cowpens (Capt. R.P. McConnell, USN), battleships USS North Carolina (Capt. F.P. Thomas, USN), USS Massachusetts (Capt. T.D. Ruddock, Jr., USN), USS South Dakota (Capt. A.E. Smith, USN), USS Alabama (Capt. F.D. Kirtland, USN), USS Iowa (Capt. J.L. McCrea, USN), USS New Jersey (Capt. C.F. Holden, USN), heavy cruisers USS Minneapolis (Capt. R.W. Bates, USN), USS New Orleans (Capt. S.R. Shumaker, USN), destroyers USS Izard (Cdr. E.K. van Swearingen, USN), USS Charrette (Cdr. E.S. Karpe, USN), USS Conner (Cdr. W.E. Kaitner, USN), USS Bell (Cdr. L.C. Petross, USN), USS Burns (Cdr. D.T. Eller, USN), USS Bradford (Cdr. R.L. Morris, USN), USS Brown (Cdr. T.H. Copeman, USN), USS Cowell (Cdr. C.W. Parker, USN), USS Wilson (Lt.Cdr. C.K. Duncan, USN), USS Sterett (Lt.Cdr. F.J.L. Blouin, USN) and USS Lang (Cdr. H. Payson, Jr., USN).

23 Sep 1944
In the morning USS Iowa (Capt. A.R. McCann, USN) fuelled three destroyers attached to the Task Group, USS Tingey (Cdr. J.O. Miner, USN), USS Stephen Potter (Cdr. L.W. Pancoast, USN) and USS Cushing (Cdr. L.F. Volk, USN).

In the evening Iowa herself fuelled from the USS Chikaskia (Lt.Cdr. G. Zimmerman, USNR).

25 Sep 1944
Late in the afternoon, USS Iowa (Capt. A.R. McCann, USN), topped off one of the destroyers of the Task Group, USS Stephen Potter (Cdr. L.W. Pancoast, USN), with fuel.