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The USS Gleaves was launched in December 1939 and commissioned into the United States Navy in June 1940. The 'Benson' class general purpose destroyer had a complement of 208 officers and men. After an initial period of shakedown training off the Atlantic Coast and in Caribbean waters she was employed escorting convoys bound for Iceland, Ireland and North Africa. She participated in the Allied landings in Sicily and, together with the USS Plunkett. accepted the surrender of the Italian garrison in Utica in August 1943. She continued operating in the Mediterranean in support of the Allied
Invasion of Italy and Southern France.
The Gleaves was awarded five battle stars for World War II service. She was
decommissioned in May 1946 and later placed into the Reserve fleet before being scrapped in 1969Gibraltar Philatelic
Gibraltar SG694ms