USS Meade (DD-602)

Meade shortly before commissioning
History
United States
Name:	USS Meade (DD-602)
Namesake:	Richard Worsam and Robert Leamy Meade
Builder:	Bethlehem Mariners Harbor, Staten Island
Laid down:	25 March 1941
Launched:	15 February 1942
Commissioned:	22 June 1942
Decommissioned:	17 June 1946
Struck:	1 June 1971
Fate:	sunk as a target, February 1973.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Benson-class destroyer
Displacement:	1620 tons
Length:	348 ft 4 in (106.17 m)
Beam:	36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
Draught:	17 ft 4 in (5.28 m)
Speed:	38 knots (70 km/h)
Complement:	268
Armament:	4 x 5 in (127 mm), 4 x 1.1 in (28 mm), 7 x 20 mm, 5 x 21 in torpedo tubes, 2 dct., 6 dcp.

USS Meade (DD-602) was a Benson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War II. She was the second ship named for Richard Worsam Meade and Robert Leamy Meade.

Meade was laid down by Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Shipbuilding Division, Staten Island, New York, 25 March 1941, launched 15 February 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Moray Nairne Wootton, and commissioned at Brooklyn Navy Yard 22 June 1942, Lieutenant Commander R. S. Lamb in command.

After shakedown out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Meade sailed in the screen escorting Washington to the southwest Pacific. After arriving Tongatapu 14 September, she guarded carrier task groups defending the sea lanes between Allied bases in the South Pacific and American forces in the Solomon Islands. Operating out of Nouméa, New Caledonia, she served during the months in late 1942 during the protracted struggle for control of Guadalcanal.

As escort for Kopara and YT‑130, Meade cruised off Guadalcanal during the costly but decisive night cruiser battle 13 November. She reached Tulagi the 14th, and following the night battleship battle 14 to 15 November, she crossed Ironbottom Sound and for the better part of an hour blasted four beached enemy transports north of Tassafaronga with 5‑inch rapid fire. The transports previously had suffered aerial strafing and bombing attacks, and Meade's concentrated gunfire left them wrecks "blazing with many internal explosions." Thence she cruised the waters between Savo Island and Guadalcanal and rescued 266 men from destroyers Preston and Walke sunk during the fierce fighting of the previous night. After returning to Tulagi, she joined the search off San Cristobal 16 November for survivors from Juneau.