USS Boyd (DD-544) was a of the United States Navy. Namesake Joseph Boyd enlisted in the Navy 4 April 1803 as a steward. On 16 February 1804 he took part in Stephen Decatur's expedition into Tripoli harbor during the First Barbary War which burned the following its capture by the Tripolitanians. Boyd later became a clerk. Construction and commissioning Boyd was launched 29 October 1942 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding, San Pedro, Los Angeles, sponsored by Mrs. C. W. Styer, wife of Captain Styer, and commissioned 8 May 1943, Lieutenant Commander Ulysses S. G. Sharp, Jr. in command. History As a unit of the Pacific Fleet, Boyd departed for Pearl Harbor 14 July 1943. After additional training she took part in the occupation of Baker Island (1 September 1943) and then joined the Fast Carrier Task Force as a screening vessel for the Wake Island raid (5–6 October) and the Gilbert Islands landings (19 November–8 December). On 26 November 1943, Boyd was credited with sinking the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Gilberts area. During the bombardment of Nauru Island (8 December 1943) Boyd was damaged by a Japanese shore battery while on a rescue mission for a US plane that had been shot and made an emergency landing into the water. Boyd was ordered to go pick up survivors of the plane crash at 10:33 AM. Fifty-seven minutes later they found the raft with the pilots on board. At 11:40, Boyd pulled up against the raft, shielding it from Japanese batteries. Approximately two minutes later, 11:42, Boyd was hit by Japanese shells. The first shell passed through the main deck into the engine room, just above one of the ship's two fresh water evaporators. This strike severed at least one 600 pound high pressure, 850-degree superheated steam line, and also destroyed one of the ship's two power distribution boards. All of the men in the forward engine room died. The second shell hit inside the #1 stack. Total casualties were twelve men killed, 8 wounded. As a result, she had to return to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, for repairs. Following repairs Boyd arrived at Pearl Harbor 23 March 1944. She joined Task Force 58 (TF 58) for the Hollandia landings (21–24 April); Truk-Satawan-Ponape raid (29 April–1 May); Saipan landings (11–24 June); 1st Bonins raid (15–16 June); Battle of the Philippine Sea (19–20 June); 2d Bonins raid (24 June); 3d Bonins raid (3–4