USS Monaghan (DD-354) was the last ship built of the Farragut-class destroyer design. She was named for Ensign John R. Monaghan. Monaghan was laid down on November 21, 1933 at the Boston Navy Yard, and launched on January 9, 1935. She was sponsored by Miss Mary F. Monaghan, niece of Ensign Monaghan, and commissioned on 19 April 1935. During the next few years Monaghan operated primarily in the North Atlantic, training US Navy personnel who served in World War II. Monaghan was present during the Pearl Harbor raid on December 7, 1941. She participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway in 1942. Monaghan was sunk in Typhoon Cobra east of the Philippines in 1944.
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, Monaghan was a ready duty destroyer in Pearl Harbor, and at 07:51 was ordered to join , who had just sunk an unidentified submarine off the entrance to Pearl Harbor an hour earlier. Four minutes later, before Monaghan could get underway, the Japanese air attack began. Monaghan opened fire, and at 08:27 was underway to join Ward when notified of the presence of a Ko-hyoteki class midget submarine in the harbor. Monaghan headed for the trespasser and the captain, LCdr. Burford, giving the order to ram. The submarine turned and fired its torpedo at the Monaghan. It missed, passing within 50 yards of the destroyer's starboard side. The Monaghan rammed the submarine glancingly, then sank it with two depth charges. Because of the shallowness of the harbor, when the depth charges detonated, the explosions lifted the Monaghan'''s stern out of the water. The destroyer then went out of control and smashed into a barge.
She headed on out of the harbor to patrol offshore for the next week, then joined in the attempt to relieve Wake Island, but Wake was captured by the Japanese before Lexington's force could bring aid. Homeward bound, Monaghan, with and , made repeated attacks on an enemy submarine, causing it to broach and give off a large oil slick.
Patrol and scouting operations out of Pearl Harbor with the Lexington group were followed by convoy duty to the west coast and back before Task Force 11 (TF 11), with Monaghan screening Lexington, sortied from Pearl Harbor on April 15, 1942, bound for the South Pacific. With the Japanese threatening Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, sea lines of communication to Australia and New Zealand were in peril, and the Navy moved quickly and decisively to block so critical a threat. First action came 4 May when planes from hit Japanese invasion shipping at Tulagi and Gavutu. The two carrier forces now combined upon word that an enemy carrier group had entered the Coral Sea. The opening action of the victory there came 7 May, when American search planes spotted the Japanese occupation force, several transports guarded by the light carrier . Lexington and Yorktown planes sank Shōhō. Next day, before the major engagement by aircraft from both American and Japanese fleet carriers, Monaghan was ordered away from formation to transmit important messages, thus preserving radio silence in the main body. She was then ordered on to search for survivors of and , sunk on the 7th by the Japanese. Since the position of the sinking had been erroneously reported, Monaghan was unable to carry out a rescue, and sailed on with messages for Nouméa before rejoining TF 16 in time to return to Pearl Harbor 26 May.
Battle of Midway
Two days later, Monaghan was underway for the decisive battle of the war, the Battle of Midway. The Japanese sailed for the capture of the Midway Atoll with a complex battle plan, but U.S. naval intelligence revealed the plan to American commanders, who thus knew when and where to find the Carrier Striking Task Force of the Japanese attackers. Although outnumbered, the Americans sank four enemy carriers in air actions beginning on the night of 3 June, along with a heavy cruiser. Through the first two days, Monaghan screened , then late on the morning of 5 June was ordered out to rescue men of a downed seaplane. At 1830 she reached the side of badly damaged Yorktown, joining the group of destroyers struggling to save the carrier and guard her from further damage. The penetrated the destroyer screen the next day and sank both Yorktown and , the carrier remaining afloat another 16 hours before she succumbed. Monaghan, , and attacked and badly damaged the submarine.