USS Twining (DD-540), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Rear Admiral Nathan C. Twining (1869–1924). Construction and career Twining was laid down on 20 November 1942 at San Francisco, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 11 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. S.B.D. Wood; and commissioned on 1 December 1943. Service in the United States Navy Twining departed San Francisco on 21 December for shakedown training and completed the cruise at San Diego on Christmas Day. Following exercises out of that port, she returned to San Francisco; loaded passengers and cargo; and got underway on 11 February 1944. 1944 Twining arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 17th to begin three months of training exercises, maneuvers, and drills, as her crew honed its skills in bombardment, fire support, and amphibious landing operations in preparation for Operation Forager. On 31 May, the destroyer departed the Hawaiian Islands in company with Fire Support Group 1 of the Saipan invasion forces. She arrived at Kwajalein on 8 June, fueled, and commenced antisubmarine patrols off the harbor entrance. On the 10th, Twining screened the sortie of the task group from the lagoon; headed for the Marianas; and arrived off Saipan at dawn on the 14th. Steaming off the island's eastern shore, she screened cruiser ; joined briefly in the pre-assault bombardment and, late in the afternoon, engaged in a running battle with a coastal battery. Leading and Montpelier, Twining closed the shore to 3,000 yards and joined in the fire which silenced the enemy guns. As darkness fell, she took up her station to screen vessels supplying night harassment fire at Garapan on Saipan's west coast. The next day, D-Day, she continued screening duties and fired on selected shore targets while marines landed on the western side of the island. Japanese planes appeared at dusk, but none came within range of Twinings guns. She spent most of the 16th in the unproductive pursuit of a sound contact and, at dusk, joined in the bombardment of Magicienne Bay. During the night, her guns scored hits on a Japanese ammunition dump near Aslito airfield. Early on the morning of 17 June, Twining joined Destroyer Division 106 and steamed to rendezvous with Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee's battleships in anticipation of fleet action. The American assault on the Marianas had drawn the Japanese Combined Fleet northward in an attempt to