USS Heywood L. Edwards (DD-663) was a of the United States Navy, named after Lieutenant Commander Heywood L. Edwards (1905–1941), captain of the destroyer , the first U.S. Navy ship sunk in World War II. Following the war, the ship was transferred to Japan and renamed Ariake. The ship served with the Japanese until 1974 and was scrapped in 1976. Construction and career Heywood L. Edwards was launched by Boston Navy Yard on 6 October 1943, sponsored by Mrs Louise S. Edwards, mother of Lt. Comdr. Edwards. The ship was commissioned on 26 January 1944. Service in the United States Navy Marianas and Palaus Heywood L. Edwards conducted her shakedown beginning 25 February off Bermuda and after gunnery exercises off the Maine coast departed to join the Pacific Fleet. Sailing from Boston, Massachusetts on 16 April, she transited the Panama Canal, stopped at San Diego, California and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 8 May. There Edwards, took part in training manoeuvres with Task Force 52 (TF 52) under Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner. The ships got underway from Pearl Harbor on 29 May for the Marianas with Heywood L. Edwards acting as screening unit for the transport group and during the initial landings on Saipan on 15 June the destroyer took up patrol station to seaward of the invasion beaches. From 21–30 June she approached the beaches to deliver fire support for the advancing Marines and continued that duty until 2 July. Edwards then joined the cruiser for the bombardment of Tinian, as part of the Marianas campaign. The destroyer returned to her gunfire support role off Saipan on 6 July and the next night, 7 July, she was called upon to rescue a group of soldiers cut off from Allied lines and stranded on the beach. Heywood L. Edwards put over her whaleboat and made four shuttle trips over the reefs to rescue 44 men, transferring them to a nearby LCI. Between 19 and 21 July she shelled Tinian in support of the impending landing there, returned to Saipan for fire support duties and got underway from the Marianas on 30 July for Eniwetok. Heywood L. Edwards took part in the Peleliu operation, departing 18 August for training exercises with amphibious forces on Florida Island and sailing for the western Carolines 6 September. Arriving 11 September, the destroyer maintained an antisubmarine patrol around the heavier units until 13 September,