USS Twiggs (DD-591)

USS Twiggs (DD-591), in camouflage paint, 23 February 1945.
History
United States
Namesake:	Levi Twiggs
Builder:	Charleston Navy Yard
Laid down:	20 January 1943
Launched:	7 April 1943
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Roland S. Morris
Commissioned:	4 November 1943
Struck:	11 July 1945
Fate:	Sunk by kamikazes off Okinawa, 16 June 1945
General characteristics
Class and type:	Fletcher class destroyer
Displacement:	2,050 tons
Length:	376 ft 6 in (114.7 m)
Beam:	39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Draft:	17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion:	60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
Speed:	35 knots (65 km/h)
Range:	6500 nmi. (12,000 km) @ 15 kt
Complement:	273
Armament:	5 x 5 in (130 mm), 4 × 40 mm AA guns, 4 × 20 mm AA guns, 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 6 × depth charge projectors, 2 × depth charge tracks

USS Twiggs (DD-591), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Marine Major Levi Twiggs (1793–1847).

Twiggs was laid down on 20 January 1943 at the Charleston Navy Yard; launched on 7 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Roland S. Morris; and commissioned on 4 November 1943, Commander John B. Fellows, Jr., in command. She was sunk on 16 June 1945 by a kamikaze aircraft near Okinawa.

Following a shakedown cruise to Bermuda in December 1943, Twiggs operated out of Norfolk as a training ship until 12 May 1944, when she departed Hampton Roads in company with Franklin (CV-13), Cushing (DD-797), and Richard P. Leary (DD-664) and proceeded, via the Panama Canal and San Diego, to Hawaii.

After arriving in Pearl Harbor on 6 June 1944, Twiggs took part in exercises and drills in Hawaiian waters and escorted convoys operating between Oahu and Eniwetok. Throughout most of July, Twiggs worked out of Eniwetok alternating exercises with escort and radar picket duties. On 19 August, she returned to Pearl Harbor to begin rehearsals for the long-awaited return to the Philippines.