USS Hale (DD-642), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Maine Senator Eugene Hale (1836–1918). Hale was launched 4 April 1943 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. G. H. Chase, granddaughter of Senator Hale; and commissioned at Boston 15 June 1943, Commander Karl F. Poehlmann in command. Hale conducted shakedown training in the Caribbean and training exercises on the East Coast before departing Halifax for the Pacific combat zone 21 September. She arrived Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal 9 October 1943.