USS Jenkins (DD-447) was a in the service of the United States Navy, the second ship named after Rear Admiral Thornton A. Jenkins. Beginning service during World War II, the destroyer saw action in the Pacific theatre. Jenkins was placed in reserve following the end of the war, until 1951, when the ship was reactivated for the Korean War. She served in the western Pacific until 1969 when the destroyer was taken out of service and sold for scrap in 1971. Construction and career Jenkins was laid down by Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Kearny, New Jersey on 27 November 1941 and launched on 21 June 1942; sponsored by Mrs Marion Parker Embry. The destroyer was commissioned on 31 July 1942. After a training period during the summer of 1942, Jenkins sailed from Casco Bay, Maine on 24 October as an escort to a convoy headed for the North African campaign. She screened capital ships during naval gunfire support missions, as the attack force arrived off Casablanca on 8 November. Following the Naval Battle of Casablanca, the destroyer returned to New York on 19 November to prepare for action in the Pacific. Arriving at Nouméa, New Caledonia on 4 January 1943, she began escort and patrol duty among the Solomon Islands and in the Coral Sea. Her first Pacific landing operation began on 29 June, when she joined other units supporting the invasion of New Georgia Island. Assigned to Rear Admiral Walden Lee "Pug" Ainsworth's Task Group 36.1, Jenkins departed Tulagi on 5 July and steamed up The Slot to intercept Japanese destroyer and transport force-carrying reinforcements to Kolombangara. Radar detected the enemy ships during mid-watch and during the Battle of Kula Gulf 6 July, gunfire sank one destroyer and drove another Ship grounding. Japanese Type 93 torpedo sank the cruiser . Following this operation, Jenkins was dispatched on 18 July to a position south of the Santa Cruz Islands to assist damaged seaplane tender and escorted Chincoteague back to Espiritu Santo. During the next four months Jenkins engaged in escort duty, training exercises and preparations for the Gilbert Islands campaign. She joined the screen of Rear Admiral Arthur W. Radford's Northern Carrier Group which provided air support over Makin and Tarawa during the landings 15 November. The destroyer then sailed with the carrier force to attack Kwajalein and Wotje in the Marshalls on 4 December. During these raids the