USS Gary

Commissioned in 1984, the Gary honors Commander Donald Gary, who earned the Medal of Honor after USS Franklin was catastrophically bombed by Japanese aircraft in March 1945—descending alone into flooded, gas-filled compartments deep in the burning ship to guide more than 300 trapped men to safety while the carrier was sinking around him. The Gary served the Pacific Fleet for 24 years before her transfer to Taiwan's Navy in 2008.