USS Bowers ( DE - 637 ) USS " Bowers " ( DE - 637 / APD - 40 ) , a " Buckley " class destroyer escort of the United States Navy , was named in honor of Ensign Robert K . Bowers ( 1915 - 1941 ) , who was killed in action aboard the battleship USS " California " during the Japan ese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 . " Bowers " was laid down on 28 May 1943 at San Francisco , California , by the Bethlehem Steel Company ; launched on 31 October , sponsored by Mrs . Eunice Bowers , the mother of Ens . Bowers ; and commissioned on 27 January 1944 , with Lieutenant Commander Frederic W . Hawes in command . Service history . World War II . From 15 February to 15 March 1944 , the new destroyer escort carried out shakedown training out of San Diego and then returned north to San Francisco for post - shakedown availability . She departed San Francisco Bay on 31 March and headed for the Hawaiian Islands . " Bowers " entered Pearl Harbor on 6 April and , after several days on the gunnery range , joined a convoy travelling via Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands to Manus in the Admiralty Islands . The ship reached Seeadler Harbor on 26 April , but was sent out on the 30th to search for pilots and crews of two airplanes that had crashed offshore . She later returned to port with 17 survivors . " Bowers " got underway on 5 May to escort the submarine USS " Seahorse " to her patrol area off Finschhafen , New Guinea . Then , off Cape Cretin on 17 May , she joined the screen for a nine - ship convoy and protected those vessels until they anchored safely in Langemak Bay on the 24th . A week later , she commenced the first in a series of voyages escorting convoys between New Guinea , Wakde Island , and the Solomons . The destroyer escort operated on this circuit for four months while Allied forces consolidated their grip on the northern Solomons . On 5 August , while off the mouth of the Jaba River on Bougainville Island , she bombarded a small contingent of Japanese soldiers holding out against the Allied forces controlling the island . Allied aircraft reported that all of her target areas were well covered with fires . After destroying a floating mine on 19 August , " Bowers " searched the area around Bougainville and Treasury Island for a submarine reported to be in the vicinity . Her duties in the northern Solomons ended at Biak , New Guinea , where she joined a group of fleet oiler s bound for the Philippines to support the American landing on Leyte . The convoy left Humboldt Bay on 12 October , and " Bowers " remained with the oilers until they entered Surigao Strait on 23 October . During the Leyte campaign , the oilers shuttled between Kossol Passage and Leyte Gulf to fuel warships of the 7th Fleet , and " Bowers " saw the safely back and forth . Only one oiler suffered from enemy action while in " Bowers " care . USS " Ashtabula " was hit by a Japanese torpedo bomber while underway off Samar on 24 October . On 28 October , " Bowers " witnessed a plane miss the flight deck of escort carrier USS " Kadashan Bay " and raced to rescue the pilot . The fueling group stood into Kossol Roads on the last day of October ; and , for the remainder of the year , " Bowers " escorted convoys of oilers and supply ships between Kossol Roads , Leyte GuIf , Humboldt Bay , Seeadler Harbor , and Ulithi . The destroyer escort stood out of Ulithi on 23 January 1945 , bound for Seeadler Harbor , where she served as a part of an anti - submarine screen operating in the ocean approaches to the Caroline and Marshall Islands . On 28 March , the destroyer escort set sail with a convoy of troopships from Ulithi bound for Okinawa to take part in the invasion soon to begin there . " Bowers " entered the transport anchorage off the Hagushi beaches at Okinawa during the morning of 1 April and , just after nightfall , fought off the first of many attacks by enemy planes . On the 3rd , " Bowers " was assigned to a radar picket station about 10 miles north of Kerama Retto to provide the other ships around Okinawa with an early warning of approaching air attacks . That day , a single torpedo bomber attacked " Bowers " and USS " Gendreau " , but the latter escort shot down the offending plane before it could do any damage . The next day , " Bowers ' " gunners shot down another torpedo bomber . The ensuing nine days were quiet , although her crew frequently manned their battle stations because of approaching air contacts . " Bowers " was then assigned to anti - submarine screen duty six miles north of Ie Shima . At dawn on 16 April , the destroyer escort shot down one attacking Japanese plane . Then at 09 : 30 , two more planes came in , flying low and fast . " Bowers " maneuvered radically to avoid the planes as they split to attack the escort . The first came in dead ahead , but " Bowers ' " guns brought it down . The second passed over the ship as her port guns came to bear . Despite the heavy gunfire , the kamikaze regained altitude , turned , and came in from a 45 - degree angle forward . It crashed into the warship ' s flying bridge , spraying high octane gasoline over the bridge and pilot house . The plane ' s bomb penetrated the pilot house and continued down through the ship for 20 feet before it exploded and sprayed the deck with fragments . Fire fighting parties brought the flames under control in about 45 minutes ; but 37 men from the ship were killed , 11 were reported missing , and many of her 56 wounded died later . " Bowers " slowly headed for the Hagushi anchorage under her own power . With the aid of the repair ship USS " Nestor " , " Bowers " was seaworthy again by 21 April . Three days later , she sailed in a convoy for Ulithi , whence she continued on via Pearl Harbor to the California coast . She arrived at San Diego on 24 May and was ordered on to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for conversion to a Charles Lawrence - class high speed transport . The warship entered the shipyard on 15 June and was redesignated APD - 40 on 25 June 1945 . Her conversion was not completed until after the war ' s end . After the war . After her conversion was completed , the new high speed transport got underway on 19 September for training at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . She returned to Philadelphia on 25 October for the Navy Day celebration and then steamed to Green Cove Springs , Florida , where she languished in limbo for more than a year before being decommissioned on 10 February 1947 . Recommissioned at Green Cove Springs on 6 February 1951 , " Bowers " joined the Amphibious Force , Atlantic Fleet . After five weeks at Guantanamo Bay for training , she embarked upon a series of short training exercises for marines , underwater demolition teams ( UDT ' s ) , and midshipmen . The high - speed transport operated off the east coast until March 1955 , although she made a six - week cruise to the West Indies and a five - month cruise to the Mediterranean . In November 1954 , " Bowers " entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard for a three - month overhaul . Upon completion , she reported to the Commandant , 6th Naval District , at Charleston for duty as a naval reserve training ship . From March 1955 until December 1958 the warship embarked reservists for training cruises along the east coast and in the West Indies . Philippine service . The high - speed transport was decommissioned again on 18 December 1958 and berthed with the reserve fleet at Orange , Texas . " Bowers " was transferred to the Republic of the Philippines on 21 April 1961 under terms of the Mutual Security Act of 1954 and commissioned in the Philippine Navy as " Rajah Soliman " . Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 May 1961 . In 1964 , while she was moored in the Bataan National Shipyard , a typhoon battered " Rajah Soliman " , capsizing her alongside the pier . The Navy helped the Philippines to raise the warship and tow her to Subic Bay ' s Ship Repair Facility for final disposition . However , the warship was deemed unsalvageable , and her hulk was sold to Mitsubishi International Corporation on 31 January 1966 for scrapping . Battle stars . " Bowers " earned four battle star s for her World War II service .