USS Kleinsmith (APD-134), ex-DE-718, was a for the United States Navy. She was named for Chief Watertender Charles Kleinsmith (1904–1942), who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism during the Battle of Midway. Namesake Charles Kleinsmith was born on 28 September 1904 in Zionsville, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the United States Navy on 26 October 1922 as an apprentice seaman. Until honorably discharged on 5 October 1926 as fireman second class, he served on board several ships, including the battleships and . Kleinsmith reenlisted in the Navy on 20 December 1928, and during the next 11 years he had duty on board the light cruisers and , the heavy cruiser and the light cruiser . He reported aboard the aircraft carrier on 27 December 1939 and transferred to the aircraft carrier on 31 October 1940. He achieved the rank of chief watertender. During the Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942, Chief Watertender Kleinsmith maintained auxiliary power on Yorktown after an intense Imperial Japanese Navy bombing attack extinguished the fires in all of her boilers but one. At the end of the attack, Kleinsmith was missing and presumed dead. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. Construction and commissioning Originally a designated DE-718, Kleinsmith was re-designated as APD-134 on 17 July 1944, even before being laid down on 30 August 1944 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan. She was launched on 27 January 1945, sponsored by Mrs. Mary Agnes Kleinsmith. Builders trials before her pre-commissioning cruise were done in Lake Huron. After completion, Kleinsmith sailed from the builder's yard at Bay City to Chicago, Illinois. From there, they went through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and down the Chicago River to Joliet, Illinois, where pontoons were attached to the ship so it could be pushed down the Des Plaines River, Illinois River, and Mississippi River as part of a barge train. After arriving at the Todd Johnson Shipyard in Algiers, Louisiana, on the west bank of the Mississippi at New Orleans, the rest of the crew reported aboard, and Kleinsmith was commissioned at New Orleans on 12 June 1945. Service history 1945–1951 As an APD, her primary role was to land raiding parties on enemy beaches and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) personnel on beach obstacle clearance operations. APDs also retained the sound gear and some anti-submarine weapons of destroyer escorts, and served as escorts to