Ships
- USS Smalley (DD-565) Captain from 31 March 1944
Peter Harry Horn, known in the Navy as P. H. Horn, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 31 October 1908. His wartime service was in destroyers. He was a temporary lieutenant commander from 1 January 1942, a lieutenant commander from 30 June 1942, and a temporary commander from 15 October 1942.
Horn's first wartime command was the destroyer Chew (DD-106), which he held from 18 October 1942 to 27 January 1943. On 2 February 1943 he took command of the destroyer Monaghan (DD-354) and remained her commanding officer until 21 December 1943.
His next ship was new. The Fletcher-class destroyer Smalley (DD-565) was laid down at Seattle on 14 February 1943 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation and launched on 27 October 1943, with Miss Lina A. Mayo as sponsor. She was commissioned on 31 March 1944, and Commander P. H. Horn became her first commanding officer.
Horn took Smalley through fitting out and shakedown. On 7 June 1944 she sailed with a second destroyer as escort for three troop transports bound for Hawaii. The convoy reached Pearl Harbor on 11 July 1944. On 28 July the crew manned the rail as President Franklin D. Roosevelt entered the harbor aboard the cruiser Baltimore.
On 8 August 1944 Smalley left Hawaii for the Aleutians and joined the raids on the Kuril Islands. On 21 November 1944 she shelled Matsuwa Island, firing 466 rounds at buildings, tents, machine-gun positions, and an airstrip. Three further bombardments of the same kind followed during that northern tour. Horn's command of Smalley ended in March 1945. On 1 July 1948 he was advanced to temporary captain.