USS Winslow (DD-359/AG-127) was a Porter-classdestroyer in service with the United States Navy from 1937 to 1950. She was scrapped in 1959. Winslow was the longest serving by far of all U.S. destroyers commissioned during the 1930s and the last by far to go to the ship breakers.
The warship completed outfitting in October and, on the 19th, embarked upon a shakedown cruise which took her to a number of European ports. Upon her return to the western hemisphere, she passed her final acceptance trials off the coast of Maine and was assigned to Battle Force, Destroyers, in the Pacific. Early in 1938, she transited the Panama Canal and joined Destroyer Squadron 9 at San Diego, California. Over the next three years, Winslow conducted operations in the eastern Pacific—generally between Hawaii and the west coast—from her home port at San Diego.
After leaving the convoy at Cape Town, Winslow returned to the United States where she was assigned to the 4th Fleet, which had grown out of the South Atlantic neutrality patrols. The warship patrolled the area between Brazil and Africa, searching for German submarines and blockade runners until April 1944. On two occasions during that period, she returned briefly to the United States—in June 1942 and in October 1943—to undergo repairs at Charleston, South Carolina.
1944–1945
In April 1944, the warship began escorting newly constructed warships from Boston, Massachusetts via Norfolk, to the West Indies. After three such voyages, she began escorting convoys from New York to England and Ireland in August. She made five round-trip voyages across the Atlantic before putting into Charleston again in March 1945 for a four-month overhaul.
While in Charleston for alterations, she lost her torpedo tubes, traded her light, single-purpose, 5-inch guns for five dual-purpose 5-inch guns. In addition, she received 16 40-millimeter and four 20-millimeter anti-aircraft guns in preparation for services in the Pacific.
However, by the end of her refresher training out of Casco Bay, Maine, hostilities had ceased. Accordingly, Winslow received orders to begin experimental work testing antiaircraft ordnance. On 17 September 1945, the ship was redesignated AG-127.
Post-World War II and fate
She continued her experimental work with the Operational Development Force until she was decommissioned on 28 June 1950. Winslow remained in reserve, berthed with the Charleston Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet, until declared unfit for further naval service on 5 December 1957. Her name was struck from the Navy list on that same day, and she was sold on 23 February 1959 for scrapping.