| abstract | - USS Flaherty (DE-135) was an Edsall-class destroyer escort built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She served in the Atlantic Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. She was named in honor of Francis Charles Flaherty, who was awarded the Medal of Honor when he sacrificed his life in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941. When his ship was being abandoned, he remained in a turret holding a flashlight so that all of his men could see their way in order to escape. He himself did not make it out. Flaherty was launched 17 January 1943 by Consolidated Steel Corp., Orange, Texas; sponsored by Mrs. J. J. Flaherty, sister-in-law of Ensign Flaherty; and commissioned 26 June 1943, Lieutenant Commander M. W. Firth in command.
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