John D. Edwards was a Clemson-class destroyer, a four-piper, hull number DD-216. William Cramp and Sons built her at Philadelphia. Her keel was laid on 21 May 1919 and she was launched on 18 October 1919. Commander Henry Effingham Eccles had her when the United States entered the war, and he still had her in the Java Sea.
On 27 February 1942 she led the American destroyer column. Commander Thomas H. Binford's flag was in her. He commanded the division. He was not her captain.
At about 1822 she fired three torpedoes to each side at the Japanese cruiser line, at a range of about 14,000 yards. She turned and the column fired again. None of them hit. Binford then reported that his torpedoes were gone. One American officer thought the attack had saved Exeter, because the two Japanese heavy cruisers turned north. Edwards was not hit.
She went back to Surabaya. On 28 February she left with Alden, John D. Ford, and Paul Jones, out through Bali Strait, and she reached Fremantle on 4 March. Eccles left her that month.
She was not sunk. She was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 28 July 1945 and sold to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore in January 1946. She earned three battle stars.