USS TRIPPE DD 403 BRASS COMMISSIONING PLAQUE: From the quarterdeck of the USS Trippe, US Navy Destroyer DD 403 which was commissioned November 1, 1939 and served throughout World War II in the Atlantic, North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific Theaters. Participating in the 1943 Solerno and 1944 Anzio Invasions, she finished the war in the western Pacific off the coast of Chichi Jima. The Executive Officer of the ship (the USS Trippe) at the time was Lieutenant Vincent L. Cassani Jr USN and was the representative of the United Nations to a War Crimes Trial against the commandant of the garrison on Chichi Jima and after a 1-day trial and with the concurring votes of the Royal Navy Representatives and Chinese Airforce Representatives, they hung the Commandant of the Garrison for war crimes I care not to mention here. Within 3 years Vincent L. Cassini JR made Captain and was commanding officer of the USS Trippe. From his estate comes The USS Trippe Commissioning Plaque acquired before the ship was included in a test of nuclear weapons in the Bikini Atoll Islands in 1946. Anchored 1000 yards from ground zero, she became so radioactive that is was unsafe approach her and after extensive testing and exhaustive attempts to keep her afloat due metallic deterioration, she was towed to deep water off Kwajalein and sunk by gunfire. Just as a side note... In that raid on Chichi Jima, a then 20 yr. old dive bomber pilot George H. G. Bush flying off the carrier USS San Jacinto was shot down by the Japanese and subsequently rescued by a US Navy Submarine barely avoiding capture and certain death by the Garrison at Chichi Jima. Provenance provided by Captain Vincent L. Cassani III. This one and only heavy solid brass historical plaque measures approx. 10'' x 15'' and in the Navy tradition, polished by thousands of US Navy Sailors over its time in service.