a torpedo struck her just aft the No. 4 gun mount blowing off the stern and No. 4 mount. stood by to transfer personnel, and Nelson was taken in tow. Twenty-four of her crew were killed or missing and nine wounded. After emergency repairs at Derry, Northern Ireland, where her #2 turret and torpedo tubes were removed as a weight saving/stability measure, the destroyer was towed to Boston where she received a new stern. Extensive repairs completed 23 November 1944, Nelson returned to Atlantic patrol duty. During December she steamed to Plymouth, England, conducting anti-submarine patrol en route. She departed New York late in February 1945 on a convoy run to Oran, Algeria, returning 31 March. Throughout April and May Nelson served as plane guard and screen for the escort carrier , and on 16 May Lt. Comdr. Clark W. Freeman, USNR, relieved Comdr. McGrath as skipper. The destroyer transited the Panama Canal on 1 August en route Pearl Harbor, and then to Tokyo Bay 3–14 September, following Japan's surrender. The last part of September she steamed to Okinawa, Korea, and Singapore, which she reached on 24 August. En route home, she arrived Colombo, Ceylon on 30 August. There, two days later, Lt. Comdr. Scott Lothrop relieved Lt. Comdr. Freeman as commanding officer; and on 3 November, Nelson sailed for New York, via Cape Town, South Africa, arriving 6 December. She got underway again on 29 January 1946 for Charleston, South Carolina. By directive dated January 1947, Nelson was placed out of commission, in reserve, U.S. Atlantic Reserve Fleet, and berthed at Charleston. She was struck from the Naval Register on 1 March 1968 and sold in July 1969. Nelson earned two battle stars for World War II service. References External links navsource.org: USS Nelson hazegray.org: USS Nelson World War II destroyers of the United States Ships built in Kearny, New Jersey 1942 ships Gleaves-class destroyers of the United States Navy