Ships
- USS La Vallette (DD-448) Captain, 12 August 1942 – 19 June 1943
Harry Havelock Henderson was born in Weston, Massachusetts, on 12 October 1904. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1925 and was commissioned in the United States Navy.
Boxing stayed with him in his early years as an officer. In 1928, while stationed at Waltham, Massachusetts, he won the final United States Olympic trial at middleweight by defeating A. Stillman, then boxed for the United States at the Amsterdam Games. He took his first bout on points, went out in the quarterfinals, and finished tied for fifth. He remained a career naval officer and eventually reached the rank of rear admiral.
Promoted to lieutenant commander on 1 August 1939, he soon received a destroyer of his own. From 30 September 1939 to 9 September 1940 he commanded Crowninshield as the fleet shifted toward wartime duty.
On 12 August 1942 he became captain of a new Fletcher-class destroyer. La Vallette, built at Kearny, New Jersey, and named for Rear Admiral Elie A. F. La Vallette, was commissioned that day at the New York Navy Yard with Lieutenant Commander Henderson in command. Through the autumn he took her through training and escort work in the Atlantic and the Caribbean.
La Vallette sailed from New York on 16 December 1942, crossed the Panama Canal, and entered the Pacific war. Screening Task Force 18 off Guadalcanal, she met Japanese aircraft on 29 January 1943 and shot down three of them. The next day, in the battle off Rennell Island, she was in the screen around the heavy cruiser Chicago when bombers attacked again. Her guns brought down six of those aircraft. An aerial torpedo hit the destroyer, and twenty-two of her men were killed. Chicago was lost in the same action.
Henderson's ship was towed to Espiritu Santo for temporary repairs, then crossed to the Mare Island Navy Yard, arriving on 1 April 1943. He remained her captain through the early months of the overhaul. His command ended on 19 June 1943. La Vallette left the yard for Pearl Harbor on 6 August 1943, and Wells Thompson Mar later commanded her in the Pacific. Henderson was given the temporary rank of captain on 20 July 1943. He died in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on 5 May 1976.