Lying more than 20,000 feet (6,100 m) below the surface of the ocean, it was the deepest shipwreck ever surveyed until the 22 June 2022 discovery of USS Samuel B. Roberts, sunk during the same engagement.

[7] The main battery of the Fletcher-class destroyers consisted of five dual-purpose 5 in (127 mm)/38 caliber guns[a] in single mounts which were grouped in superfiring pairs fore and after of the superstructure.

From 19 November to 1 January 1944, Johnston put out to sea for her shakedown cruise and her crew trained with fleet units near San Diego.

[13] On 30 January, she screened for the cruisers Santa Fe, Biloxi, Indianapolis, and the battleship Maryland as they provided naval gunfire support for American forces in the Wotje Atoll.

Johnston sailed for the Kwajalein Atoll,[12] where from 31 January to 3 February she provided gunfire support for American forces attacking Roi-Namur Island.

[12][14] Johnston was reassigned on 5 February 1944 to escort transport ships to the Ellice Islands with destroyers Haraden and Stansbury, and the destroyer-minesweeper Long.

[16][17] From 16 to 18 February,[12] Johnston screened for Pennsylvania, Colorado, Tennessee, Indianapolis, and cruisers Portland and Louisville as they bombarded Engebi Island.

On 27–28 March, Johnston and her sister ships Franks, Haggard, and Hailey were dispatched to bombard Kapingamarangi Atoll, in the Caroline Islands.

For the rest of March and all of April, they patrolled the northern Solomons, escorted Allied shipping to and from them, and occasionally provided gunfire support for the US Army's XIV Corps on Bougainville Island.

On 6 May, she sailed to New Georgia with Franks, Haggard, Hailey, and Hoel to screen for Montpelier and Cleveland and then for a minelaying operation between Bougainville and Buka Island on 10 May.

[19] The destroyers resumed their anti-submarine patrols on 18 May, then screened for Montpelier, Cleveland, and Birmingham as they shelled Japanese coastal guns on the Shortland Islands two days later.

[20] From 21 July to 1 August,[12] Johnston joined several battleships, cruisers, and destroyers to furnish gunfire support for the 1st Marine Brigade and the 77th Infantry Division.

On 9 August, Johnston was ordered, with Franks, Haggard, Haily, Halford, Guest, Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Honolulu to return to the Marshalls.

Three days later, after undergoing minor repairs, Johnston set sail for Purvis Bay with Pennsylvania, Idaho, Louisville, Minneapolis, and seven other destroyers.

[22][23] These ships formed TU 77.4.3 (call sign "Taffy 3"), a sub-unit of the 7th Fleet's Escort Carrier Group (TG 77.4) commanded by Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, aboard Fanshaw Bay,[24] and sailed into Leyte Gulf on 17 October.

[22] In response to the Invasion of the Philippines, on 18 October, the Imperial Japanese Navy dispatched three fleets to cut off and destroy the American ground forces.

[25][26] Though Kurita's fleet – by 25 October numbering four battleships, eight cruisers, and 11 destroyers[27] – had been attacked by US submarines and aircraft over the previous two days,[28][29] TG 77.4 was not made aware of the Japanese force until Taffy 3's surface radar detected it at 0646.

Kumano and her sister ship Suzuya fired off numerous salvos, but again, not a single Japanese shell hit the American destroyer.

Dashing back to the escort carriers, Commander Evans forced two heavy cruisers out of the engagement without being hit by a single Japanese projectile.

The damage was initially recorded as three 14-inch (356 mm) shells from Kongō at a distance of 14,250 yards (13,030 m), but Japanese records displayed Kongō to be much farther and blinded by a rain squall, unable to fire her guns, as where Yamato claimed numerous hits with her main and secondary guns on a US "cruiser" at the same exact moment Johnston was hit.

[47] Hidden in her smoke and a rain squall for the next ten minutes, Johnston's crew restored power to the forward main guns.

[12][42] After turning south to rejoin Taffy 3, Johnston encountered Hoel, Heermann, and Samuel B. Roberts, en route to make their own torpedo attacks.

[48] Despite such immense damage, Evans turned Johnston around to follow and support them,[43][49][50] in the process exchanging gunfire with the heavy cruiser Haguro.

[54][55] Johnston next sighted Gambier Bay, immobile, listing to port, and under fire from numerous warships, and briefly fired on the heavy cruiser Chikuma as the remaining destroyers attempted to cover her, achieving partial success at their own risk as Hoel was sunk by gunfire from Nagato, Haguro and Yamato's secondary battery, while Chikuma engaged in an intense point blank range duel with Heermann and Samuel B. Roberts (Yamato still targeted Gambier Bay with her main guns, which would later sink at 0911).

[56][57] Johnston ceased fire as the light cruiser Yahagi leading the destroyers Yukikaze, Isokaze, Urakaze, and Nowaki approached the other carriers.

[62][63] The destroyers then focused on Johnston, and, in short order, denuded her of her main mast, last engine and gun, rendered the bridge uninhabitable, and set much of the ship ablaze.

[68] On 30 October 2019, the research vessel (RV) Petrel, belonging to Vulcan Inc., discovered the remains of what was believed to be Johnston at the bottom of the Philippine Trench.

[70] On 31 March 2021, the research vessel DSV Limiting Factor of Caladan Oceanic, financed and piloted by Victor Vescovo,[71] surveyed and photographed the deeper wreck and definitively identified it as Johnston at a depth of 21,180 ft (6,460 m).

Despite that, the bridge is still fully intact and recognizable, with damage from a 6.1-inch (155 mm) shell from Yamato's secondary battery putting a hole beneath where Evans commanded the ship.

Her AA guns are still trained, and several holes in Johnston line up with accounts of enemy damage (such as a 5-inch (127 mm) destroyer shell plunging into the superstructure and disabling her radio control).