U.S.S. WARD DD-139 "Pearl Harbor 1941"

USS Ward (DD-139) was a 1,247 long tons (1,267 t) Wickes class destroyer in the US Navy during WW I, later APD-16 in WW II. She fired the first American shot in World War II, when she engaged the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and successfully sank her opponent.

On the morning of 7 December 1941, under the command of LCDR William W.Outerbridge, Ward was conducting a precautionary patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor when she was informed at 03:57 by visual signals from the coastel minesweeper Condor of a periscope sighting, whereupon Ward began searching for the contact. At about 06:37, she sighted a periscope apparently tailing the cargo ship Antares whereupon she attacked the target. The target sunk was a Japanese Ko-Hyoteki class two-man midget submarine and thus Ward fired the first American shots of WW II a few hours before Japanese carrier aircraft formally opened the conflict with their attack on the Pacific Fleet inside the harbor. The submarine was attempting to enter the harbor by following Antares through the anti-submarine nets at the harbor entrance. Ward fired several rounds from its main guns hitting the conning tower of the sub and also dropped several depth charges during the attack.

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