The destroyer was sunk to the south of Guadalcanal on 9 August 1942, with all hands - one of only two American major surface warships to be lost in World War II with no survivors.

Clearing Puget Sound on 4 January 1938, Jarvis operated along the California coast and in the Caribbean Sea until 1 April 1940 when she departed San Diego for fleet exercises off the Hawaiian Islands.

[citation needed] Emerging from the attack with no loss of crew and only superficial damage, Jarvis sortied that morning with several cruisers and destroyers to conduct surveillance and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) patrols.

On 16 December she cleared Pearl Harbor with the aircraft carrier Saratoga and joined Task Force 14, steaming to relieve the beleaguered defenders on Wake Atoll.

Arriving on 18 June, Jarvis commenced convoy escort and ASW patrols from Australia to New Caledonia, continuing with this duty until she was tasked to participate in the invasion of Guadalcanal.

The warning of an impending air attack suspended these operations and the transports and their protective screen deployed in the body of water between Guadalcanal and Florida Island, soon to be called "Ironbottom Sound".

Although anti-aircraft fire destroyed the aircraft, its torpedo exploded against Jarvis' starboard side near the forward fireroom, stopping her dead in the water and killing 14 crewmen.

The destroyer Dewey towed her to shallow anchorage off Lunga Point and after the attack, she crossed to Tulagi, where she transferred her seven wounded and conducted temporary repairs.

Despite a 50-foot (15 m) gash in her side, she was considered seaworthy and ordered to proceed under cover of darkness to Efate, New Hebrides, escorted by the destroyer minesweeper USS Hovey (DMS-11).

Unnoticed by her own ships, Jarvis departed Tulagi at midnight on 9 August and moved slowly westward between Savo Island and Cape Esperance.