USS John R. Pierce (DD-753)

USS John R. Pierce (DD-753)

USS John R. Pierce (DD-753), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Commander John Reeves Pierce, who commanded Argonaut, a transport submarine, which was lost during battle in January 1943. Lieutenant Commander Pierce was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

John R. Pierce was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Co., Staten Island, New York on 24 March 1944; launched on 1 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Mary Taylor Pierce, widow of Lieutenant Commander. Pierce; and commissioned on 30 December 1944 at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Commander C. R. Simmers in command.