USS Izard (DD-589) belonged to the Fletcher class and served in the United States Navy. Her name honored Lieutenant Ralph Izard (1785–1822). The Charleston Navy Yard launched her on 8 August 1942, with Mrs. Robert E. Lee III, a great-granddaughter of the lieutenant, as sponsor. She was commissioned on 15 May 1943, and Earl K. Van Swearingen was her captain from that day.
Shakedown was interrupted while she searched for a German submarine along the Carolina coast. On 14 September 1943 she left Norfolk for Pearl Harbor, passing through the Panama Canal Zone and San Diego. She reached Pearl Harbor on 4 October and, for the next six weeks, trained and stood plane-guard duty.
On 10 November 1943 Izard left Pearl Harbor with Rear Admiral Charles Alan Pownall’s carrier force, Task Force 50, as the Pacific Fleet pushed across Micronesia toward the Gilbert Islands. For the month that followed she guarded the ships off Makin Island against aircraft, surface attack, and submarines.
On 8 December 1943 she helped shell Nauru Island, then withdrew to Havannah Harbor at Efate. There the crew drilled for the Marshall Islands, the fleet’s next objective. On 23 January 1944 she sailed from Funafuti Harbor, Ellice Island, with Rear Admiral Forrest. Izard survived the war. She was sold for scrap on 2 April 1970.