USS John Rodgers (DD 574)
Destroyer Squadron 25
World War II Operations
Destroyer Squadron 25 was formed in the Pacific concurrent with the end of the Solomon Islands campaign. It was composed of nine
2,100-ton Fletcher-class destroyers as follows:
- High-bridge Harrison (DD 573), John Rodgers (DD 574), McKee (DD 575) and Murray (DD 576) from, Consolidated Shipbuilding, Orange, Texas.
- High-bridge Ringgold (DD 500), Schroeder (DD 501) and Sigsbee (DD 502) and low-bridge Dashiell (DD 659), four consecutively-built ships from Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, New Jersey.
- Stevens (DD 479) from Charleston Navy Yard, originally fitted with a floatplane catapult.
Destroyer Squadron 25
1943
Destroyer Division 49
USS Stevens (DD 479)
USS Harrison (DD 573)
USS John Rodgers (DD 574), flag
USS McKee (DD 575)
USS Murray (DD 576)
Destroyer Division 50
USS Ringgold (DD 500) flag
USS Schroeder (DD 501)
USS Sigsbee (DD 502)
USS Dashiell (DD 659)
Less Stevens, DesDiv 49 arrived in the Pacific in time to participate in the Bougainville operation; then was joined by DesDiv 50 for raids and the Gilbert Islands operation, continuing with Fifth Fleet operations across Micronesia leading to the invasion of the Philippines.
The squadron missed the Luzon operations while refitting on the West Coast, but returned to the war zone for the assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa and then joined Adm. Halsey’s Third Fleet for the war’s closing operations against Japan.
