The destroyer USS Ellet (DD-398), named for five members of a Pennsylvania family who served in the Civil War, was built by Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company and launched on 11 June 1938. Commissioned on 17 February 1939, the Ellet spent September and October 1939 on Neutrality Patrol. Her home port was moved to Pearl Harbor in mid-1941.
The Ellet was returning from a reinforcement mission of Wake Island with Task Force 8 when the Japanese attacked Hawaii on 7 December 1941. The Ellet was soon put to work guarding convoys. In April 1942, she was screening Carrier Task Force 16 as it launched the famous Halsey-Doolittle Raid against Japan. Soon afterward, the Ellet and her task force sped to reinforce U.S. naval forces fighting in the Battle of Coral Sea, but the battle was won before she was able to engage. In June 1942, the Ellet, now part of Task Force 17, played an important role during the Battle of Midway.
Arriving off Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942, the Ellet took part in pre-invasion bombardment, patrols of the transport area, and air defense operations. Two days after arriving in the arena, the Ellet rescued nearly 500 officers and men from the cruiser Quincy (CA-39), sunk in the Battle of Savo Island. The Ellet and the destroyer Selfridge (DD-357) then had the unwelcome task of sinking the damaged HMAS Canberra, which had been mortally wounded during the Savo battle.
The Ellet was a part of Task Force 16, patrolling the Solomons, until May 1943 and then returned to Pearl Harbor. In January 1944, she took part in screening aircraft carriers prior to the invasion of the Marshall Islands. The Ellet next took part in operations in New Guinea and subsequently saw action with the 5th Fleet, screening carriers striking Saipan and Guam. On 17 October, she rescued the destroyer minelayer Montgomery (DM-17) after she struck a mine, subsequently towing her to Ulithi lagoon.
In January 1945, she bombarded Iwo Jima and continued to escort convoys and conducted air-sea rescue missions throughout the end of the war. The Ellet was decommissioned on 29 October 1945 and sold for scrap on 1 August 1947.