USS Rhind ( DD - 404 ) USS " Rhind " ( DD - 404 ) was a " Benham " - class destroyer in the United States Navy . She was named for Alexander Colden Rhind . " Rhind " ( DD - 404 ) was laid down 22 September 1937 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard ; launched 28 July 1938 ; sponsored by Mrs . Frederick S . Camp ; and commissioned 10 November 1939 , Commander G . R . Cooper in command . Initial Duties . Following an extended - shakedown cruise to Brazil and postshakedown availability , " Rhind " steamed south again and from 5 July to 19 December 1940 conducted exercises in the Caribbean and patrolled off Martinique . Employed as carrier escort and engaged in fleet exercises during the first half of 1941 , she joined TF 1 in June and through the northern summer steamed in the North Atlantic shipping lanes on Neutrality Patrol . In August she escorted " Augusta " ( CA - 31 ) , with President Franklin D . Roosevelt embarked , to Newfoundland for the Atlantic Charter conferences . Then , at their conclusion , she escorted HMS " Prince of Wales " , carrying Prime Minister Winston Churchill , to Iceland . On 17 August she returned to patrol duty off the Newfoundland coast . Detached in October , " Rhind " escorted " Yorktown " ( CV - 5 ) from midocean to Halifax , Nova Scotia in early November , then joined a Halifax - Cape Town convoy as escort . Off Southwest Africa 27 November , she was detailed to escort " Ranger " ( CV - 4 ) to Trinidad . They arrived 3 December . Four days later the United States entered World War II . Enters the War . " Rhind " then steamed north to patrol the waters off Bermuda . In February 1942 , she shifted further north and through March escorted Icelandic convoys . In April she shepherded a convoy to the Panama Canal Zone and on the 23rd , while en route back to New York , conducted her first depth charge attack on a German submarine . The U - boat had shelled a Norwegian merchantman off New Jersey . Arriving at New York the same day , she departed again on the 30th to escort convoy AT - 15 to Iceland . There , on 15 May , she joined TF 99 and for the next 3 months operated with that force and the British Home Fleet in hunting German units operating out of Norway to intercept convoys to Murmansk and Archangel . Return to Americas . " Rhind " returned to the United States in July . In August she escorted coastal convoys between Boston and NS Argentia , then turned south to conduct ASW operations off the southeastern coast and in the Caribbean . Exercises in the Casco Bay area followed in early October and on the 24th she got underway for North Africa . Screening " Massachusetts " ( BB - 59 ) en route she arrived off the Moroccan coast on the night of 7 November . During the Naval Battle of Casablanca on the 8th she shelled Vichy vessels attempting to repel the Allied invasion of North Africa and blasted shore batteries . Through the 12th , she supported the troops ashore and screened larger ships in the Fedhala - Casablanca area . Back at Hampton Roads 20 November , the destroyer resumed escort duty and into the new year , 1943 , guarded convoys to North Africa . On 28 April she returned to New York with convoy GUS - 6 , which had departed , as UGS - 6 , 4 March and had lost five merchantmen to a wolfpack between the 13th and 17th . On 10 May , " Rhind " departed New York again for North Africa , escorting a troopship convoy , and arrived at Algiers 2 June . For the next month she conducted ASW patrols and escorted ships along the North African coast . Invasion of Sicily . On 10 July the invasion of Sicily began . On the 14th " Rhind " arrived off the coast , in the screen of a reinforcement convoy and joined the antiaircraft defense and fire - support group . Through the 20th she patrolled off Gela , then shifted to Palermo . After screening the mine and patrol craft which cleared the harbor , she remained on antiaircraft station . On the 26th , as she stood by the heavily damaged " Mayrant " ( DD - 402 ) taking off wounded and assisting in salvage work , she sustained several casualties and some damage to her hull from a near miss delivered by a Junkers 88 . Through 2 August she continued to patrol off Palermo , then on the 3rd , commenced offensive sweeps near Messina , sinking an E - boat on the first day , and supported " leap frog " landings along the coast . Caught in another air raid on the 22nd , " Rhind " gained a brief respite at Oran , but suffered further near misses while escorting a convoy to Bizerte through September . At Bizerte on the 6th , she fought off another raid , an attempt to disrupt the forces staging for the invasion at Salerno . On the 9th , the destroyer arrived in the Gulf of Salerno and continued her war with the Luftwaffe . On the 11th she got underway for Oran , whence , for the next month and a half , " Rhind " escorted reinforcements to Italy . In November she sailed for New York and , after guarding two New York to United Kingdom convoys , shifted to coastwise and Caribbean escort duty interspersed with offensive ASW activities . On 26 July 1944 she resumed transatlantic convoy duty with a run to the United Kingdom . A convoy to Naples followed in late September and , in November and December , she screened carrier " Shangri - La " ( CV - 38 ) on her shakedown cruise . The Pacific . Between January and March 1945 " Rhind " continued coastal and Caribbean escort duty . Then after another run to Britain , 23 March to 18 April , she prepared for transfer to the Pacific Theater . Sailing 5 May , she arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 30th ; and , after exercises there , steamed westward in the screen of carriers " Lexington " ( CV - 16 ) , " Hancock " ( CV - 19 ) , and " Cowpens " ( CVL - 25 ) . On 20 June , the carriers launched strikes against Wake Island . Then , minus " Cowpens " and an escort , the force continued on to Leyte , arriving 26 June . From Leyte , " Rhind " steamed to Ulithi , whence she escorted cargo and troop ships to Okinawa and conducted ASW patrols in the Carolines . Shifted to Saipan in August , she escorted another convoy to Okinawa after the cessation of hostilities , then on 2 September steamed to Pagan Island where Commodore Vernon F . Grant accepted the surrender of the Japan ese garrisoned there . After the war . Returning to Saipan the same day , " Rhind " accompanied landing craft to Marcus Island . Then , on the 16th , headed north for Iwo Jima , whence she patrolled on air / sea rescue station until 2 November . She returned to Saipan on the 4th and operated in the Marianas Islands until mid - December when she got underway for the United States . Arriving at San Diego , California 30 December , she was stripped and returned to Pearl Harbor and prepared for experimental testing . On 15 May she joined Joint Task Force 1 for Operation Crossroads , the atomic test series scheduled to be detonated at Bikini Atoll in July . Fate . Surviving the tests on 1 and 25 July , but highly contaminated , " Rhind " was decommissioned 26 August 1946 and moved to Kwajalein where , after radiological clearance had been given and further examinations had been made , she was sunk , 22 March 1948 . Her name was struck from the Navy list 5 April 1948 . As of 2006 , no other ship in the United States Navy has been named " Rhind " . Honors . " Rhind " earned four battle star s during World War II .