USS O'Bannon (DD-450)

USS O'Bannon (DD-450)

USS O'Bannon (DD/DDE-450), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon (1784–1850), the Marine Corps's "hero of Derna".

O'Bannon was laid down by Bath Iron Works Corp. in Bath, Maine on 3 March 1941, and launched 19 February 1942, sponsored by Mrs. E. F. Kennedy, descendant of Lieutenant O'Bannon. O'Bannon and her sister ship Nicholas (DD-449) were the first two Fletchers to be launched. O'Bannon was commissioned at Boston on 26 June 1942, Commander Edwin R. Wilkinson in command.