USS Rodman (DD-456/DMS-21), a , is the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Admiral Hugh Rodman. Rodman was laid down on 16 December 1940 by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Kearny, New Jersey and launched on 26 September 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Albert K. Stebbins, Jr., grandniece of Admiral Rodman. The destroyer was commissioned on 27 January 1942. World War II 1942 Following shakedown, Rodman, assigned to Task Force 22 (TF 22), alternated training and patrol duties at NS Argentia, Newfoundland with screening and plane guard services for the aircraft carrier as that carrier trained aviation personnel along the northeast U.S. coast and ferried planes of the Army's 33rd Pursuit Squadron to Accra on the Gold Coast from 22 April to 28 May 1942. Detached in June, she departed Newport 1 July, escorted a seven-troopship convoy to the Firth of Clyde, then continued on to Orkney where, as a unit of TF 99, she commenced operations with the British Home Fleet. Based at Scapa Flow into August, she alternated patrols from Scotland and Iceland to protect the southern legs of the PQ/QP convoy lanes between those two countries and the north Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel. With the long summer days, however, the U-boats and Norwegian based Luftwaffe units continued to exact a heavy toll. In early July, they destroyed Convoy PQ 17. Further convoys were postponed until the relative cover of the Arctic winter darkness could be regained. Operation "Easy Unit" then came into being. Toward the end of July, Rodman was designated to assist in filling the increasing immediate logistics demands of the Russians, and of British and American personnel in northern Russia, and to prepare for bases, men, and equipment to provide air cover for the convoys when they resumed. On 17 August Rodman, with the cruiser and two other American destroyers departed Scapa Flow carrying medical personnel and supplies men, and equipment for the Royal Air Force's 144 and 145 Squadrons, ammunition, pyrotechnics, radar gear drystores, and provisions. Following the route taken by British destroyers three weeks earlier, they entered Kola Inlet after dark on 23 August. The Luftwaffe was grounded. The ships offloaded, refueled, took on merchant sailors survivors of ill-fated convoys, and departed Vaenga Bay on 24 August. En route back to Scotland, the American ships were joined by Royal Navy destroyers. On 25 August, the