USS Monssen (DD-436), a , was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for Mons Monssen, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions aboard in 1904. Commissioned in 1941, the destroyer saw service during World War II in both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Monssen was sunk at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942. Service history Monssen was laid down on 12 July 1939 by Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington and launched on 16 May 1940, sponsored by Mrs. Mons Monssen, widow of Lieutenant Monssen. The ship was commissioned on 14 March 1941, Lieutenant Commander Roland N. Smoot in command. Following shakedown and training, Monssen reported to the Atlantic Fleet on 27 June 1941 as a unit of Destroyer Division 22 (DesDiv 22). For the next five months she operated in the northwestern Atlantic, from the coast of New England and the Maritime Provinces to Iceland, on neutrality patrol. Her escort and patrol duties changed from neutral to belligerent 7 December 1941, continuing until 9 February 1942 when she entered the Boston Navy Yard for overhaul in preparation for her transfer to the Pacific Fleet. Transfer to the Pacific On 31 March Monssen arrived at San Francisco, joined Task Force 16 (TF 16), and departed 2 April. Steaming west, she was in the antisubmarine screen for the aircraft carrier as the carrier headed for Japan with Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle's B-25s on her flight deck. In the early morning hours of 18 April the force was sighted by the enemy and the air raid was launched to bomb their targets of Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Kobe. Following the Doolittle Raid, the force returned to Pearl Harbor, from which it sortied 30 April to aid the carriers and in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Reaching the scene after the battle was over, the force returned to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 26 May. Two days later they departed again — this time for Midway to repulse an expected assault on that advanced base. By 2 June, TF 16 had rendezvoused with Task Force 17 (TF 17) and was in position northeast of Midway. On 4 June the Battle of Midway commenced as Japanese aircraft flew against installations on the island. By 7 June, the American forces had won the battle, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers and one cruiser at the cost