USS Edwards (DD-619) was a Gleaves-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship named "Edwards", and the first named for Lieutenant Commander Walter A. Edwards (1886–1926), who as commander of Bainbridge in 1922 rescued nearly five hundred people from the burning French transport Vinh-Long. For his heroism Edwards was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor, the French Légion d'honneur, and the British Distinguished Service Order.

Edwards was launched on 19 July 1942 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey; sponsored by Mrs. Edward Brayton, widow of Lieutenant Commander Edwards. The ship was commissioned on 18 September 1942.

After brief service escorting convoys along the east coast and in the Caribbean, Edwards sailed from New York on 8 November 1942 to join the Pacific Fleet. She joined Task Force 18 (TF 18) at Nouméa on 4 January 1943, to cover a large troop convoy bound for Guadalcanal. On 29 January, they were attacked by a swarm of Japanese torpedo bombers off Rennell Island. Although most were driven off by the heavy accurate fire of the ships, enough broke through to put two torpedoes into Chicago. Edwards with four other destroyers was detached to screen the damaged cruiser. On the following day, as the group sailed for Espiritu Santo, attacks continued. The destroyers put up a stout defense, but Chicago was torpedoed again and sank. Edwards rescued 224 of the 1,049 survivors. One of the other screening destroyers, La Vallette, was also torpedoed. Edwards saw her safely to port before rejoining her task group.

Edwards returned to Pearl Harbor on 27 March for overhaul, then set sail for the Aleutians on 15 April. She saw action bombarding Attu on 26 April, and as antiscreen for Pennsylvania during the landings of 11 May. The following day she teamed with Farragut for a 10-hour depth charge attack on a submarine which attempted to torpedo the battleship. I-31 was forced to the surface and badly damaged by Edwards' guns before diving, only to be sunk by Frazier.

Edwards continued to ply Aleutian waters on antisubmarine patrol. In June 1943, she joined the blockade patrol, which bombarded Kiska Island from 2–12 August, and covered the landings on 15 June. After overhaul, she returned to Espiritu Santo in October for training.

On 8 November, Edwards sailed to screen aircraft carriers in air strikes on Rabaul on the 11th. A flight of Japanese planes attacked her task group at noon that day; Edwards and her companions drove off or splashed every plane before they could damage any American ship. She screened the support force at Tarawa from 19 November, then escorted transports to Pearl Harbor en route to the west coast for a brief overhaul.

On 3 March, she arrived at Majuro off which she patrolled as well as screening strikes on Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands and in the Palaus by aircraft carriers of the 5th Fleet. In April, she guarded the carriers as they launched air attacks on New Guinea in coordination with the Hollandia landings. Edwards also featured in the attack on Truk of 29–30 April.

From 12 May to 18 August, Edwards' destroyer division formed the Eastern Marshalls Patrol Group. They patrolled off the Japanese-held atolls of Mili, Jaluit, Maloelap, and Wotje to keep the enemy from receiving assistance or evacuating. On 22 May, she joined Bancroft to put several enemy batteries on Wotje out of action.