Spence was named for Robert T. Spence, a young officer who kept loading a gun on a sinking prize boat off Tripoli in 1804 and was pulled out of the water. She was a Fletcher-class destroyer, DD-512. Bath Iron Works laid her down on 18 May 1942, launched her on 27 October 1942, and commissioned her on 8 January 1943. Lieutenant Commander H. J. Armstrong was her captain.
On the night of 1–2 November 1943 she led Austin's rear division off Empress Augusta Bay, ahead of Thatcher, Converse, and Foote. A shell hit her below the waterline. She stayed in the fight. She was not sunk that night.
The cruisers sank Sendai. That fire is not credited to Spence, or to any one ship. Myoko cut the bow off Hatsukaze. Spence was among the destroyers that finished Hatsukaze, with Claxton, Stanly, and Thatcher. That sinking is not credited to one of them.
On 17 December 1944 she pumped the salt water out of her tanks to take fuel. The sea was already too rough, and the fueling was cancelled. The next day the weather became a typhoon, east of Luzon. Water that came aboard wet the electrical gear. The lights went out. The pumps stopped. The rudder jammed. She rolled over and sank. Twenty-four of her men lived. Hull and Monaghan were lost in the same storm. She was struck on 19 January 1945. Eight battle stars.