<P> Ward was named in honor of Commander James Harmon Ward, USN, (1806--1861), the first U.S. Navy officer to be killed in action during the American Civil War . Ward was built at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California in a record of 171⁄2 days . Under the pressure of urgent World War I needs for destroyers, her construction was pushed rapidly from keel laying on 15 May 1918 to launching on 1 June and commissioning on 24 July 1918 . </P> <P> Ward transferred to the Atlantic late in the year and helped support the trans - Atlantic flight of the NC flying boats in May 1919 . She came back to the Pacific a few months later, and remained there until she was decommissioned in July 1921 . She had received the hull number DD - 139 in July 1920 . The outbreak of World War II in Europe brought Ward back into active service . She was recommissioned in January 1941 . Sent to Pearl Harbor shortly thereafter, the destroyer operated on local patrol duties in Hawaiian waters over the next year . </P> <P> On the morning of 7 December 1941, under the command of LCDR William W. Outerbridge, Ward was conducting a precautionary patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor when she was informed at 03: 57 by visual signals from the coastal minesweeper Condor of a periscope sighting, whereupon Ward began searching for the contact . At about 06: 37, she sighted a periscope apparently tailing the cargo ship Antares whereupon she attacked the target . The target sunk was a Japanese Ko - hyoteki - class, two - man midget submarine, thus Ward fired the first American shots of World War II a few hours before Japanese carrier aircraft formally opened the conflict with their attack on the Pacific Fleet inside the harbor . The submarine was attempting to enter the harbor by following Antares through the antisubmarine nets at the harbor entrance . By entering territorial waters while submerged, the submarine was not entitled to "innocent passage" protections . Ward fired several rounds from its main guns, hitting the conning tower of the submarine, and also dropped several depth charges during the attack . </P> <P> A minority of academics doubted whether Ward had really sunk a Japanese mini-sub until University of Hawaii scientists found the vessel on 28 August 2002 . It lies 1,200 ft (366 m) beneath the sea in American waters about 3--4 mi (3--3 nmi; 5--6 km) outside Pearl Harbor . The starboard side of the submarine's conning tower exhibits one shell hole, evidence of damage from Ward's number - three gun . While her depth charges were sufficient to fully lift the 46 - long - ton (47 t), 78 ft (24 m) submarine out of the water, they did no apparent structural damage to the submarine, which sank due to water flooding into the vessel from the two shell holes . </P>

What did the crew of the uss ward see near the entrance to pearl harbor