USS Shields (DD-596), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Purser Thomas Shields (died 1827), who fought in the Battle of New Orleans. The keel of the destroyer, Shields, was laid on 10 August 1943 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. Sponsored by First Lieutenant Margaret Shields Farr, WAC, the great-granddaughter of Purser Shields, the destroyer was launched on 25 September 1944 and commissioned on 8 February 1945, Commander George B. Madden, USN, in command.