As commander of the USS Parker, he received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for outstanding performance as a destroyer division commander on convoy duty during World War I, and Britain's Distinguished Service Order for his rescue of the survivors of the torpedoed hospital ship HMHS Glenart Castle.

During his command of the USS Edsall he became one of the US Navy officers who played a major role in protecting and evacuating Armenians and Greeks from the September 1922 destruction of Smyrna in Turkey.

Halsey Powell conducted her shakedown training off the East Coast, and sailed on 20 January 1944 from Norfolk to join the Pacific Fleet.

As the islands fell to American amphibious troops, Halsey Powell and other ships protected the task force from air and submarine attack.

The destroyer carried out a series of effective attacks on I-32 on 23 March, and after running out of depth charges yielded to Manlove and Canastota to complete the kill.

In addition to screening, radar picket duties, and fire support for ground forces, Halsey Powell sank a net tender, a cargo ship and numerous small craft in the lagoon with her guns.

The operation a success, she entered Saipan harbor on 21 June, after the carrier forces had decimated the Japanese in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

Following this she spent two weeks on screening and radar picket duty off Guam before returning to Eniwetok on 22 August to join the fast carrier task force.

Halsey Powell sortied with Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's famous Fast Carrier Task Force (then called TF 38), on 29 August.

During September the carriers, screened by Halsey Powell and other destroyers, struck the Palaus and the Philippines, returning to Ulithi on 1 October.

That night the bulk of TF 38 steamed north to meet another Japanese fleet, and in the Battle off Cape Engaño next day another major victory was won.

Halsey Powell arrived at San Pedro for battle repairs on 8 May, but with the Pacific war reaching its climax sailed again for Pearl Harbor on 19 July 1945.

After shakedown and training exercises the ship sailed for the familiar waters of the Far East 23 July from Long Beach, arriving Japan 16 August.

Halsey Powell continued these operations off the eastern coast of Korea until October, when she departed the nearly stabilized war zone for training off Okinawa.