USS Stansbury (DD–180) was a in the United States Navy during World War II. Namesake John Stansbury was born on 28 March 1788 in Baltimore, Maryland. He served under Stephen Decatur as a midshipman on the during the capture of the British ship, Macedonian. Lieutenant Stansbury was killed during the Battle of Lake Champlain on 11 September 1814. Construction and commissioning Stansbury was laid down on 9 December 1918 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Union Iron Works at San Francisco, launched on 16 May 1919, sponsored by Miss Mary Eleanor Trevorrow, and commissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard on 8 January 1920. Service history Stansbury served with the Pacific Fleet for over two years during which time she received the designation DD-180. On 27 May 1922, she was decommissioned and berthed at San Diego. She remained inactive for more than 12 years, but the onset of World War II in September 1939 necessitated her reactivation along with that of many of her sister ships. Accordingly, Stansbury was recommissioned at San Diego on 29 August 1940. From there, she moved to the Mare Island Navy Yard to begin her conversion to a high-speed minesweeper. In October, she proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, where the conversion was completed. On 19 November, she was redesignated a destroyer minesweeper, DMS-8. World War II Stansbury was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet from October 1940 to December 1943. She spent her first year in the Atlantic in minesweeping exercises, in coastwise escort duties, and in conducting maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea. On 30 June 1942, while escorting from Norfolk to Bermuda, she attacked a German U-boat with depth charges. A rough sea and rescue operations for survivors of the torpedoed merchantmen handicapped her during the unsuccessful attack. However, her humanitarian effort proved successful, for on 1 July, she pulled into Bermuda with 390 survivors embarked. The destroyer minesweeper set out from Norfolk on 24 October 1942 to join Task Force (TF) 34, the North Africa invasion force. Stansbury was assigned to Mine Squadron (MinRon) 7 of the Center Attack Group for the landings. The group's assault area was at Fedala just up the coast from Casablanca. The ships arrived off the objective area on 7 November. Stansbury and the other minesweepers made an exploratory sweep of the approaches and then she joined the screen in patrolling the transport area. On 15 November, was torpedoed, but thanks to the