Ships
- USS Twining (DD-540) Captain, 27 January 1945 – 8 September 1945
Commander Frank Voris List was born in Seattle, Washington, on 6 April 1910. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with the class of 1933 and was commissioned an ensign on 1 June of that year. He became a lieutenant (junior grade) in June 1936 and a lieutenant in February 1941. On 1 October 1942, in the first year of the Pacific war, he was advanced to temporary lieutenant commander.
From 15 February 1944 to 27 December 1944 he commanded the destroyer USS Smith (DD-378). The year placed him in the Pacific as American forces closed on the Philippines, and a destroyer in that campaign lived by screening, convoy work, and anti-aircraft defense.
The fight that defined his time in Smith came off Ormoc, on the west coast of Leyte, on 11 and 12 December 1944. The ship was screening a convoy loaded with supplies for Army troops still cut off ashore. Japanese aircraft struck in two heavy daylight attacks and returned through the night. List handled Smith in the raids and fought her guns so the convoy could finish the delivery. He received the Silver Star for those two days. The award, written up in February 1945, named him a commander for conduct while he was a lieutenant commander.
On 27 January 1945 he became captain of USS Twining (DD-540). He relieved Ellis Kerr Wakefield, who had commanded the Fletcher-class destroyer from her commissioning at San Francisco on 1 December 1943. By the time List came aboard, Twining had already served through the Central Pacific campaign and the return to the Philippines. He remained her captain until 8 September 1945, covering the last months of the war against Japan and the first days after the surrender signed on 2 September. List stayed in the Navy after the war and retired as a captain. He died on 22 January 1974.