A truly unfortunate name. The story of the Porters

David Dixon Porter was an American naval officer serving on the side of Union forces during the American civil war. Before that his father, also David Porter, had been an officer in the navy during the war of 1812. The US navy in its wisdom decided to honor these two distinguished members of their ranks with the naming of a brand new torpedo boat after them.

The USS David Porter, Torpedo Boat Number 6, was completed in 1896, and five years later was commissioned into the United States navy. She was small and poorly armed. Carrying only a few torpedoes. It was with one of these weapons that the Porter almost sank the Armored Cruiser New York while on  routine harbor duty.

Fortunately the torpedo missed the New York and instead ran out of power and sank. The ships captain was severely reprimanded for his efforts, but beyond that nothing else came of it. Future ships named Porter would consider her career quite lucky in comparison to theirs.

The second ship to be named USS David porter (DD59) was a ship of the Tucker class. Commissioned in 1916 she saw some service during the great war but was scrapped soon afterwards in compliance with the 1921 Washington Naval Treaty. By far she was the luckiest of the bunch.

The Third Porter (DD 356) was where things really got going. She was a flotilla leader of the Porter class. She was more a light cruiser than a destroyer with her eight five inch guns in four twin turrets. She was one of seven ships in her class. Seven of them would survive the war.

Upon the outbreak of war the Porter was stationed in Pearl Harbor Hawaii. However when the Japanese attacked she was at sea with the carrier fleet (The Japanese target) and so escaped damage or loss (A rare streak of luck) 

After the attack she was deployed with the ships of Task Force 16 after serving some months in convoy duty. It was with the task force that she fought in the battle of the Santa Cruz islands where she protected the carriers Enterprise and Hornet from waves of Japanese bombers.

When a Avenger torpedo bomber went down the Porter maneuvered to save the crew. Only for the torpedo from the downed aircraft to sink the ship. The survivors were rescued by the USS Shaw, a survivor of Pearl Harbor.

After the heroic loss of the ship the USN commissioned a brand new ship of the Fletcher class to serve as the next Porter. The DD 579 was commissioned in 1942 and immediately got herself into trouble when while on maneuvers with the home fleet she accidentally fired a torpedo spread at the battleship USS Iowa. A ship which at that moment was carrying President Roosevelt, the secretary of state, and many of the top military leaders of the US armed forces. The Iowa saw the torpedoes coming and avoided them, saving the lives of many people.

Porter was ordered to the docks where her entire crew was arrested and interrogated as part of an investigation to see whether or not the torpedo launch was an accident, or an assassination attempt. The investigators found nothing and the Porter, minus her captain, was sent to Alaska to assist in the repulsion of the Japanese invasion force, and lay low for a little bit. While on station the Porter gave fire support to ground forces, using her guns to hit Japanese positions inland.

During one such exercise the ship got her directions mixed up and wound up firing at the army command center and setting it on fire. The smoke had not yet cleared by the time the Porter received orders to  head to the Philippines.

It was during heavy fighting around the island of Okinawa that the Porter would see her last action. The ship was serving as an anti-aircraft battery shooting down waves of Japanese Kamikaze planes attempting to disrupt the US marine landings. 

A Kate Torpedo bomber made a run for the Porter, only for accurate fire from the ship to bring the plane down. However the Kate continued on its trajectory for the ship, now more torpedo than missile, and impacted against the ships hull. Tearing a great gash in the side of the ship and causing her to sink. 

The US would commission yet another Porter, also of the Fletcher class. The DD 800 saw limited service during the war before she was placed into mothballs. She was brought out of retirement briefly during the Korean war where she was used for AA duties. And then back into storage she went until she was scrapped in 1974. Out of 30 years the ship would spend only four in active service as a ship of the US navy.

The fifth and most recent ship to be named Porter is the DDG 78, a ship of the Arleigh Burke class she is most well known for colliding with the Japanese merchant ship the Otowasan in 2012. The accident left the ship with a new captain and large sent in her hull. She is still in service and heaven help those who