USS Harold J. Ellison (DD-864) was a in service with the United States Navy from 1945 to 1983. She was then transferred to Pakistan and renamed Shah Jahan (D-164). The ship was finally sunk as a target in 1994.
Namesake
Harold John Ellison (17 January 1917 – 4 June 1942) was born in Buffalo, New York. He was appointed Ensign 20 October 1941 after completing flight training. Soon afterwards he reported to Torpedo Squadron 8 on board the aircraft carrier .
In the pivotal Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942 Ellison, piloting a Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bomber, and his comrades led a torpedo attack on the Japanese carriers, pressing home the attack without fighter cover. Though no hits were scored and all of the squadron's aircraft were shot down, the attack had disrupted the Japanese formation, delaying their preparations for a second strike. Subsequent attacks by Torpedo Squadron 6 and Torpedo Squadron 3 continued this disruption, as well as occupying the Japanese combat air patrol while U.S. Navy dive bombers slipped in virtually unnoticed. These subsequently attacked the Japanese aircraft carriers with great success, so that, barely an hour after Torpedo 8's sacrifice, three Japanese carriers were in flames. Ensign Ellison was classified as "presumed dead" on 5 June 1942 and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross posthumously for his gallantry at Midway.
The U.S. Navy destroyer escort was named in his honor, but was cancelled in 1944 while under construction.
History
1945–1983
Harold J. Ellison was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Staten Island, New York on 3 October 1944, launched on 14 March 1945 by Mrs. Audrey Ellison, the widow of Ensign Ellison and commissioned on 23 June 1945.
Although scheduled to join the Pacific Fleet for the final assault on Japan, Harold J. Ellison was completing her shakedown cruise when the surrender came on 15 August 1945. Homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, she operated in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea for the next two years, taking part in United States Navy Reserve training cruises, and anti-submarine warfare exercises.
Beginning in 1947, when she sailed from Norfolk on 10 November, Harold J. Ellison added periodic cruises to the Mediterranean Sea with the 6th Fleet to her operations, helping to keep the peace and protect American interests in this area. She participated in the search for lost British submarine in April 1951, and added cruises to the Caribbean and northern Europe in 1953.
From 1954 to 1956 she continued tactical training along the United States East Coast and participated in European cruises. Following the 1956 Suez crisis, Harold J. Ellison, took part in peacekeeping operations in the Eastern Mediterranean during 1957.
The following summer, the Lebanon crisis occurred as the government of Lebanon experienced a division between pro-Western and pro-Arab sides. The destroyer screened aircraft carrier and heavy cruiser from July to September 1958 while the 6th Fleet landed United States Marines at the request of Lebanese President Camille Chamoun.
In September 1958, she operated with "Task Group Alfa" for the training of new tactics and equipment in antisubmarine warfare. Harold J. Ellison remained on this duty until April 1959.
The ship returned to her pattern of cruises to the Mediterranean in 1959, departing Norfolk on 21 September. In 1960, her homeport became Charleston, South Carolina, and in 1961, during her tenth deployment to the 6th Fleet, the ship cruised in the Persian Gulf during the crisis in Kuwait. Harold J. Ellison added a new function in January 1962, when she was assigned to Project Mercury as a part of the recovery unit in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1962, she underwent an extensive Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM I) overhaul at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard. The destroyer rejoined the fleet in early 1963 and through 1964 continued to operate on training and readiness exercises off the Atlantic coast.