USS Pillsbury (DD-227) was a Clemson-class destroyer of the United States Navy that served during World War II and the first of two ships named after John E. Pillsbury, a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. She was sunk by Japanese cruisers, approximately 200 miles east of Christmas Island on or around 2 March 1942 with all hands, one of two major American surface warships lost in World War II with no survivors. History Pillsbury was laid down by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia on 23 October 1919, launched on 3 August 1920, sponsored by Miss Helen Langdon Richardson and commissioned on 15 December 1920. During service in the Asiatic Fleet, Pillsbury was involved in the 1927 Nanking Incident as part of a U.S. Navy flotilla helping protect American interests around the Yangtze River. On 27 November 1941, by order of the Commander Asiatic Fleet, Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Pillsbury departed Manila under the command of Lt. Commander Harold C. Pound, together with other units of the fleet. When the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, she was operating in the vicinity of Borneo. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Pillsbury, together with other United States, Dutch and Australian naval vessels, operated out of Balikpapan on reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols. Later she moved to Surabaya, Java and from there made night patrols with the cruisers and and destroyers of Division 58. On 18 February the Japanese began moving ashore on Bali and the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA) surface forces including Pillsbury set out to disrupt further landings from a Japanese convoy reported to be in the area. While steaming through Badoeng Strait on the night of 19/20 February during the Battle of Badoeng Strait, Pillsbury fired three torpedoes at a Japanese ship without result. When a searchlight was trained on Pillsbury and several shots were fired at her, she turned to starboard and made smoke to escape. The relatively small Allied forces chose to make brief strikes then rapid retirement in the face of superior Japanese forces in the hope of disrupting the enemy advance. At 02:10 Pillsbury sighted a ship ahead and engaged with her main battery and .50 caliber guns. The amidships gun crew of the Japanese ship was put out of action by the first burst of .50 caliber machine guns. The target ship then received a direct hit with a shell from