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USS Phelps (DD-360)
Porter-class destroyer
(1935-1947)

USS Phelps (DD-360) was a World War II-era Porter-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy. She was named for Thomas Stowell Phelps, who was a Rear Admiral in the US Navy in 1884.

Phelps was laid down 2 January 1934 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts; launched 18 July 1935; sponsored by Mrs. Richard A. Kearny; and commissioned 26 February 1936, Commander Albert H. Rooks in command. In November 1936 Phelps, along with the cruiser Chester, escorted the heavy cruiser Indianapolis carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Buenos Aires, Argentina for the opening of the Inter-American Peace Conference of 1936. The cruise included good-will visits to Montevideo, Uruguay and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Phelps shot down one enemy plane. In February and March 1942, she served as part of the destroyer screen for Task Force 11, including the carrier USS Lexington, in an attack in the Huon Gulf off Lae and in an attack on Salamaua, New Guinea, over the Owen Stanley mountain range from the Gulf of Papua, 10 March 1942. During the Battle of the Coral Sea beginning on 8 May, when Lexington and USS Yorktown diverged to avoid enemy attacks, Phelps stayed with Yorktown. Phelps emerged from the battle with no casualties, but when the Lexington was seriously damaged, she helped to prevent enemy capture of the carrier by administering the coup de grâce and finished her off with two torpedoes.