USS Evans, a 2050-ton Fletcher class destroyer built at Chickasaw, Alabama, was commissioned in December 1943. She arrived in the central Pacific in late March 1944 to begin combat operations against Japan. In addition to performing antisubmarine patrols, she served as an escort to aircraft replacement and refueling groups during the Marianas and Palaus campaigns of June-September 1944. In January 1945 Evans bombarded Yap Island and, during February and early March, provided bombardment and escort services during the bloody fight to seize Iwo Jima.

From late March to early May 1945, as U.S. forces fought to capture Okinawa, Evans screened escort aircraft carriers that provided air support for the campaign. She was sent to radar picket duty off the embattled island on 10 May. Early the following day, in company with the destroyer Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774) and four smaller vessels, she was the target of attacks by more than a hundred enemy aircraft. Though many of the planes were shot down, Evans was hit by four Kamikazes and seriously damaged. Thirty-two of her men were lost and nearly as many were wounded in the onslaught, which also left Hugh W. Hadley badly damaged. Determined efforts by the crews of the destroyers saved both ships and were later recognized by the award of Presidential Unit Citations.

Though towed across the Pacific to the West Coast, the end of the Second World War dictated that neither Evans nor Hugh W. Hadley were repaired. USS Evans was decommissioned in November 1945 and sold for scrapping in February 1947.

USS Evans was named in honor of Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans (1846-1912), who served actively as a U.S. Navy officer from the Civil War through the first decade of the 20th Century.