USS Farragut, first of a class of eight 1365-ton destroyers, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Commissioned in June 1934 as the first U.S. Navy destroyer built in more than a decade, she operated in the Atlantic area until the spring of 1935. Transferred at that time to the Pacific, Farragut took part in the U.S. Fleet's peacetime maneuvers and training. Her base was shifted from the west coast to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in October 1939, and she was moored there when Japan began the Pacific War with the 7 December 1941 surprise attack on that base. Her early wartime missions included patrol and escort duties in the vicinity of Hawaii and the California coast. In early May 1942, the destroyer participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Farragut remained in the south Pacific area through the end of 1942. In August she screened aircraft carriers in the invasion of Guadalcanal and Tulagi and in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. During the rest of the Guadalcanal Campaign she was mainly employed on patrol and escort missions. Following overhaul in early 1943, she was sent to Alaskan waters, where she took part in the Attu and Kiska operations in May and August. In November 1943 and January-February 1944, Farragut was part of the armada that seized bases in the Gilbert and Marshall islands. She then moved south to support landings along the north shore of New Guinea before returning to the central Pacific to participate in the invasions of Saipan and Guam and in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, during June and July 1944.
Later in the year, Farragut was assigned to screen a force of oilers that sustained the fleet during its assaults on Japanese positions in the western Pacific. Though escort missions occupied most of her remaining World War II service, she was also employed on radar picket duty during the Okinawa campaign in April and May 1945. Soon after the fighting ended, Farragut was sent back to the United States. She arrived at the New York Navy Yard in late September 1945 and was decommissioned a month later. USS Farragut was sold for scrapping in August 1947.
This page features selected views of USS Farragut (DD-348).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: 19-N-14753 USS Farragut (DD-348) In harbor, circa 1935. Note that her hull number was then painted low on the hull, just above the boot topping. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 61878 USS Farragut (DD-348) Photographic reproduction of a painting by Walter L. Greene, depicting the ship as first completed, circa the mid-1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 120KB; 605 x 715 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-463607 USS Farragut (DD-348) Underway at sea, 14 September 1936. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 113KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-427093 USS Farragut (DD-348) Steaming in harbor, 14 March 1938. Note the colored band and the red Engineering Excellence "E" painted on her after smokestack. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 590 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-321652 USS Farragut (DD-348) At sea, December 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 137KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-282347 USS Farragut (DD-348) Underway at sea in August 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 119KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-72730 USS Farragut (DD-348) Off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 29 September 1944. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 31, Design 7d. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 595 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-72731 USS Farragut (DD-348) Underway off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 29 September 1944. Her camouflage scheme is Measure 31, Design 7d. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 600 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 61577 USS Farragut (DD-348) Seen from astern while in drydock, during the 1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 79KB; 590 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 67299 USS Farragut (DD-348) Leading a column of Destroyer Squadron Twenty ships, during maneuvers staged for Movietone News, off San Diego, California, 14 September 1936. The next ship astern is USS Aylwin (DD-355). Courtesy of Commander Robert L. Ghormley, Jr., USN, 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 67309 USS Farragut (DD-348) Underway during maneuvers staged for Movietone News, off San Diego, California, 14 September 1936. She is being overflown by five patrol planes. That at left is a PBY-1 of Patrol Squadron Eleven-F (VP-11F). The other four are P2Ys of Patrol Squadron Seven-F (VP-7F). Courtesy of Commander Robert L. Ghormley, Jr., USN, 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 68450 Destroyer Squadron Twenty (DesRon 20) Five of the squadron's ships moored together, circa 1936. The destroyers are (from left to right): USS Dewey (DD-349), USS Farragut (DD-348), USS Worden (DD-352), USS Hull (DD-350) and USS Aylwin (DD-355). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 435 pixels |
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Note: In addition to the views presented above:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 24 April 2002