USS Tillman (DD-641)

USS Tillman off the New York Navy Yard, New York, 8 October 1944.
History
United States
Name:	USS Tillman
Namesake:	Benjamin Tillman
Builder:	Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, South Carolina
Laid down:	1 May 1941
Launched:	20 December 1941
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Charles Sumner Moore
Commissioned:	4 June 1942
Decommissioned:	6 February 1947
Struck:	1 June 1970
Fate:	Sold for scrapping 8 May 1972
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gleaves-class destroyer
Displacement:	1,630 tons
Length:	348 ft 3 in (106.15 m)
Beam:	36 ft 1 in (11.00 m)
Draft:	11 ft 10 in (3.61 m)
Propulsion:	50,000 shp (37,000 kW); 4 boilers; 2 propellers
Speed:	37.4 knots (69 km/h)
Range:	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	16 officers, 260 enlisted
Armament:	4 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. DP guns 4 × 40 mm (1.6 in) guns 5 × 20 mm (0.79 in) AA guns, 5 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (5 Mark 15 torpedoes) 6 × depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Tillman (DD-641), a Gleaves-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for United States Senator Ben Tillman. In commission from 1942 to 1947, she saw service in World War II, primarily in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Tillman was laid down on 1 May 1941 at the Charleston Navy Yard in Charleston, South Carolina; launched on 20 December 1941, sponsored by Mrs. Charles Sumner Moore; and commissioned on 4 June 1942 with Lieutenant Commander Francis Douglas McCorkle in command.

From June until September 1942, Tillman underwent sea trials and shakedown off the United States East Coast. In September and October, the new destroyer escorted convoys and participated in exercises on the Eastern Sea Frontier before getting underway on 23 October from the Chesapeake Bay with a convoy bound for Operation Torch.

Shortly before midnight on 7 November, Tillman reached a point some 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) off the coast of Africa and began screening the unloading transports of the Center Attack Group during the Naval Battle of Casablanca near Fedhala. While screening off the transport area, Tillman engaged Vichy French patrol vessel, W-43, which had attempted to slip six merchant ships into the transport area despite the destroyer's warnings. After coming under fire from Tillman's 5-inch (127 mm) guns, the patrol vessel exploded and beached herself. Tillman later captured three French merchant ships.