Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 98528:  USS Miller underway astern while in a harbor, circa the early 1960s

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Miller (DD-535), 1943-1975.
Renamed James Miller in 1971

USS Miller, a 2050-ton Fletcher class destroyer, was built at San Francisco, California. Commissioned in at the end of August 1943, she conducted initial training operations along the West Coast and in Hawaiian waters before arriving in the Pacific combat area in January 1944. During the following weeks the new destroyer participated in the invasion of the Marshall Islands, performing escort and gunfire support duties. In late February Miller began service as part of the screen of the fast carrier task forces. In this role she participated in the carriers' March-May raids throughout the central Pacific and on northern New Guinea. In the course of the rest of 1944 she took part in the conquest of the Marianas, including the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June; the assault on the Palaus in September; raids against enemy positions in the western Pacific and on Asian mainland; and the October Battle of Leyte Gulf. On 26 October, during the latter operation, she used her guns to help sink the Japanese Destroyer Nowaki.

Miller remained with the fast carriers for the first half of 1945 as they supported campaigns to capture Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and raided the Japanese Home Islands. She provided assistance to USS Franklin when that ship was seriously damaged by enemy air attack on 19 March. As the Pacific War approached its conclusion in July and August 1945, Miller was undergoing overhaul at Mare Island, California. Not required in the greatly-reduced postwar active fleet, she was decommissioned in December 1945 and placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego, California.

Increased needs for ships during Korean War and the Cold War brought Miller back into commission in May 1951. She was subsequently modernized, losing one five-inch gun and receiving a new battery of twin three-inch anti-aircraft guns, plus updated electronic equipment. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, she made one combat deployment in 1952-1953. This cruise, which took her around the World, included naval gunfire support missions against enemy forces in Korea. For most of the rest of the decade Miller operated in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and was in the latter sea with the Sixth Fleet during the 1958 Lebanon crisis. In 1959 she became a Naval Reserve training ship, based at Boston, Massachusetts. After five years in that role Miller was placed out of commission at the end of June 1964. In August 1971, while in "mothballs" as part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, she was renamed James Miller to free her original name for assignment to the new escort ship DE-1091. USS James Miller had no active service under that name. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1974 and sold for scrapping in July 1975.

USS Miller was named in honor of Quartermaster James Miller, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for courageous conduct during the Civil War.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Miller (DD-535).


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 #: NH 98521

USS Miller (DD-535)


In San Francisco Bay, California, 21 September 1943.
Photographed from an aircraft based at Naval Air Station Alameda, flying at an altitude of 400 feet.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 490 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98522

USS Miller (DD-535)


Alongside USS Independence (CVL-22), while transferring mail, 11 October 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98523

USS Miller (DD-535)


At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 August 1945.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98524

USS Miller (DD-535)


At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 24 August 1945.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98525

USS Miller (DD-535)


Underway soon after she was recommissioned, circa 1951.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98526

USS Miller (DD-535)


Returns to Newport, Rhode Island, from overseas duty, 1956.
In the background are other Atlantic Fleet Destroyer Force ships moored to bouys in Narrangansett Bay. USS Dortch (DD-670) is in the left center, and USS Hickox (DD-673) is at right.
The original print bears the stamped date 20 August 1956.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98527

USS Miller (DD-535)


Comes alongside USS Wasp (CVS-18) for a refueling demonstration during the carrier's family day cruise, 16 April 1959. Some of Wasp's crew members and their families are observing the evolution.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98528

USS Miller (DD-535)


Underway astern while in a harbor, circa the early 1960s.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98529

USS Miller (DD-535)


Underway at sea, circa the early 1960s.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 131KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98530

Commander Thaxter P. Spencer, USNR
,
Commanding Officer, USS Miller (DD-535)

Brings his ship into port, as she returns to Boston, Massachusetts, after four months in the Eastern Atlantic on anti-submarine exercises, 21 February 1962.
Photograph released by the First Naval District Public Information Office.
Note Cdr. Spencer's megaphone and binoculars.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

Online Image: 89KB; 600 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 69647-KN (Color)

"Travel"

U.S. Navy recruiting poster, published by the Navy Recruiting Aids Facility, circa the later 1950s. It features a painting by Lou Nolan depicting USS Miller (DD-535) visiting a Far Eastern port.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 138KB; 530 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 68632-KN (Color)

Insignia: USS Miller (DD-535)

Cloth jacket patch featuring the ship's emblem, as used in about 1961.

Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 150KB; 650 x 675 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold several other views of USS Miller (DD-535). The following list features some of these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".



  • Photo #: 80-G-82895
    USS Miller (DD-535) in San Francisco Bay, California, 21 September 1943. Taken from an aircraft based at NAS Alameda, Calif.
    Port broadside aerial view, with the ship at rest or underway at very low speed.

  • Photo #: 80-G-82899
    USS Miller (DD-535) in San Francisco Bay, California, 21 September 1943. Taken from an aircraft based at NAS Alameda, Calif.
    Starboard broadside low aerial view, from about the height of the ship's gun director. Miller is at rest or underway at very low speed.


  • Photo #: USN 1046494
    USS Miller (DD-535) underway at sea, 17 April 1958. Photographed by Cobb, of USS Tarawa (CVS-40).
    Port bow surface view, taken from about the height of the ship's superstructure top.

  • Photo #: USN 1038491
    USS Miller (DD-535) refueling at sea, 7 September 1958..
    Nearly bow-on aerial view, with Miller steaming alongside (and to starboard of) USS Boston (CAG-1) and USS Saratoga (CVA-60). The carrier dominates the view, while Miller occupies a relatively small part of the photo's left side.

  • Photo #: USN 1056019
    USS Miller (DD-535) underway at sea, 1 June 1961. Photographed by C. Snell.
    Starboard bow low aerial view, taken from about the height of the ship's foremast top.

  • Photo #: USN 1076857
    USS Miller (DD-535) underway at sea, 2 November 1961.
    Starboard bow surface view, taken from about the height of the ship's forward gun director.

  • Photo #: USN 1076869
    USS Miller (DD-535) underway at sea, 16 December 1961. Photographed by C. Snell.
    Starboard bow low aerial view, taken from about the height of the ship's foremast top, showing Miller steaming through the wake of another ship.

    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


  • If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 10 June 2003