The Destroyer USS Cummings DD-365

USS Cummings was built at the United Dry Docks shipyard in Staten Island, New York City, between 1934 and 1935. It's a 100% PWA project (see notes in main NYC New Deal ships page.).

The Cummings was a US Navy Mahan-class destroyer. In 1941 it was docked at Pearl Harbor during the attack, suffered only minor damage, and immediately went on patrol searching for the enemy strike force without success. After that it served as a convoy escort in the Pacific for several years. In 1944, President Roosevelt broadcast a nationwide address from its forecastle (and did some fishing). After that the Cummings took part in battles at Wake, Luzon, Leyte, Iwo Jima, Guam, Saipan, and Okinawa, surviving the war to be decomissioned in 1945. The Cummings received seven battle stars in WWII [Wikipedia].