Named in honor of Commodore Abraham Whipple, the USS Whipple was commissioned on 22 August 1970, arriving at her homeport of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 22 October 1970.

Gerald L. "Jerry" Whipple (Fsh4bas@aol.com) pointed out the following sites that tell about the USS Whipple:

• George Carroll Whipple III's page on the USS Whipple

• Destroyers Online's USS Whipple home page (including links to more pages on her crew, more photos, etc.)

• Richard Chen's essay on his rescue by the USS Whipple

• Mark Robert's essay "Desparation," Mark was a crew member on the USS Whipple as she rescued Vietnamese refugees.

An earlier USS Whipple (AG-117 [ex DD-217])--a Clemson Class Destroyer--was commissioned in 1920 and converted to Miscellaneous Auxiliary in 1945.