by Kenneth Ericksen (Author)

The USS Hamner (DD-718) was launched as a Gearing Class Destroyer on November 24, 1945 by the Federal Ship Building and Drydock Company of Port Newark, NJ, and commissioned on July 12, 1946. The destroyer was named in honor of Lt. Henry R. Hamner II, who was killed in action on April 6, 1945 aboard the USS Howorth (DD-952), off Okinawa during a Kamikaze attack.