On 1 August 1942 Tucker left Suva, escorting the cargo ship SS Nira Luckenbach to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides.
On 4 August Tucker led the cargo ship into the harbor at Espiritu Santo, as she headed into the western entrance, she struck at least one mine.
The explosion tore her hull nearly in two at the No.
 1 stack, killing all three crew members on watch in the forward fire room.
The rest of the ship's company survived.

Nira Luckenbach and other vessels rescued sailors from their sinking ship.
Tucker's stern sank the following morning; a diving party scuttled and sank her bow.
The ship had steamed into the Segond Channel unaware that the minelayers Gamble, Breese, and Tracy had laid mines at its western entrance.
An investigation revealed that Tucker's captain had not been informed of the minefield.
She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 2 December 1944.
Tucker's loss was a setback to the Pacific Fleet, which was trying to assemble every available ship for the Battle of Guadalcanal.

Three days after Tucker sank, the seagoing tugboat Navajo arrived on site with divers, salvaging her guns, turbines, anchors and chains.
During the remainder of the war, the Navy used the wreckage site for diver training; they did not undertake further salvaging.

Settling in just 60 feet (18 m) of water, the ship was easily accessible to private salvors, who harvested anything of value, ransacking and further scattering Tucker's remains.
Sport divers also had a destructive effect on the site, which by 1997 resembled an "underwater junkyard".
Mike Gerken, an underwater photojournalist, dove the Tucker wreckage site several times; in 2013 he eulogized Tucker and other sunken ships:
To see a ship with a distinguished record as the Tucker in such a poor state gave me pause for thought.
I pondered that wrecks, like the Tucker, will gradually disappear and to be saddened by this inevitable fact would be pointless.
What is important is that the memory of these ships be kept alive by telling their stories.

— Mike Gerken, "The USS Tucker: A Prestigious Past with an Inglorious End", Wreck Diving Magazine
Tucker and SS President Coolidge, a troopship, suffered similar fates less than three months apart; both were sunk in different locations of the same U.S. Navy minefield, and both later became diving sites.
On 1 August 1942 Tucker left Suva, escorting the cargo ship SS Nira Luckenbach to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. On 4 August Tucker led the cargo ship into the harbor at Espiritu Santo, as she headed into the western entrance, she struck at least one mine. The explosion tore her hull nearly in two at the No. 1 stack, killing all three crew members on watch in the forward fire room. The rest of the ship's company survived.
Nira Luckenbach and other vessels rescued sailors from their sinking ship. Tucker's stern sank the following morning; a diving party scuttled and sank her bow. The ship had steamed into the Segond Channel unaware that the minelayers Gamble, Breese, and Tracy had laid mines at its western entrance. An investigation revealed that Tucker's captain had not been informed of the minefield. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 2 December 1944. Tucker's loss was a setback to the Pacific Fleet, which was trying to assemble every available ship for the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Three days after Tucker sank, the seagoing tugboat Navajo arrived on site with divers, salvaging her guns, turbines, anchors and chains. During the remainder of the war, the Navy used the wreckage site for diver training; they did not undertake further salvaging. 
Settling in just 60 feet (18 m) of water, the ship was easily accessible to private salvors, who harvested anything of value, ransacking and further scattering Tucker's remains. Sport divers also had a destructive effect on the site, which by 1997 resembled an "underwater junkyard". Mike Gerken, an underwater photojournalist, dove the Tucker wreckage site several times; in 2013 he eulogized Tucker and other sunken ships:
To see a ship with a distinguished record as the Tucker in such a poor state gave me pause for thought. I pondered that wrecks, like the Tucker, will gradually disappear and to be saddened by this inevitable fact would be pointless. What is important is that the memory of these ships be kept alive by telling their stories.
— Mike Gerken, "The USS Tucker: A Prestigious Past with an Inglorious End", Wreck Diving Magazine
Tucker and SS President Coolidge, a troopship, suffered similar fates less than three months apart; both were sunk in different locations of the same U.S. Navy minefield, and both later became diving sites.
USS Tucker (DD-374)