in naval tonnage agreed upon at the 1930 London Naval Conference and the economy measures of the early years of the great depression. In April 1937, Litchfield, as part of the Battle Fleet, changed her permanent base from the west coast to Pearl Harbor. On 20 May she became flagship of Submarine Squadron 4, Submarine Force, Pearl Harbor, and continued to operate with submarines as war approached and training drills intensified during 1941. In company with the submarine , she departed her base 6 December and returned on 9 December to the destruction wrought by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. With the outbreak of war in the Pacific, Litchfields duties involved the escort of U.S. submarines both in and out of port and anti-submarine patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor. Several times she made depth charge runs but no kills were confirmed prior to her departure 6 November 1943 for overhaul at Bremerton, Washington. Fate Upon her return to Pearl Harbor on 14 January 1944, she escorted a series of convoys to Midway and Eniwetok. Twice near Midway, she rescued crews of downed patrol planes and she salvaged a Martin PBM Mariner on 8 August. Litchfield also conducted submarine training exercises in the vicinity of each of these two bases. On 17 March 1945 an escort mission brought her to Guam, her furthest wartime penetration of the western Pacific. While performing escort and training duties with U.S. submarines at Guam on 31 March, she was redesignated AG-95, a miscellaneous auxiliary. Ending these duties 21 July, she arrived in San Diego 9 August. The next week the Board of Inspectors recommended Litchfield be scrapped. Arriving Philadelphia in October, she decommissioned 5 November 1945 and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register 28 November. Scrapping was completed by the Philadelphia Navy Yard 29 March 1946. References External links http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/336.htm Clemson-class destroyers World War II destroyers of the United States World War II auxiliary ships of the United States Ships built in Vallejo, California 1919 ships