USS Blessman ( DE - 69 ) USS " Blessman " ( DE - 69 / APD - 48 ) , a of the United States Navy , was named in honor of Lieutenant Edward Martin Blessman ( 1907 – 1942 ) , who was killed in action in the Pacific on 4 February 1942 . " Blessman " was laid down on 22 March 1943 at the Bethlehem - Hingham Shipyard , Inc . , Hingham , Massachusetts ; launched on 19 June 1943 , sponsored by Mrs . Helen Malloy Blessman , widow of Lieutenant Blessman , and commissioned on 19 September 1943 , with Commander J . A . Gillis in command . Service history . Convoy escort , 1943 – 1944 . After fitting out at the Boston Navy Yard and running her acceptance trials in Massachusetts Bay , " Blessman " departed Boston on 9 October 1943 for shakedown training . Operating out of Bermuda , the new destroyer escort completed her initial gunnery , anti - submarine , and engineering training early in November . She left Bermuda on the 5th , arrived in Boston on the 8th and began post - shakedown availability . Leaving Boston again a week later , " Blessman " reached the New York Navy Yard on the 16th . Assigned to Escort Division ( CortDiv ) 19 , the destroyer escort sailed with a fast troop convoy on 20 November , screening it safely across the Atlantic and into Derry , Northern Ireland , ten days later . Clearing the Irish Sea on 8 December , " Blessman " escorted a westward - bound convoy on the return leg of her maiden voyage and arrived at New York five days before Christmas of 1943 . Over the next six months , " Blessman " made three more round - trip Atlantic crossings escorting convoys , returning from the last of these on 1 May . Normandy invasion , 1944 . Her fifth Atlantic passage proved the most eventful . Clearing New York on 12 May , she arrived at the other end of the " Milk Run " on the 23rd , at Derry . Instead of returning in the screen of a westbound convoy , however , she shifted to Belfast on the 27th in company with her sister ships and division mates , , and , and became part of the armada forming for the assault on Normandy . " Blessman " departed Belfast on 3 June and headed for Baie de la Seine , France , escorting the bombardment group of the assault force . Heavy weather compelled the postponement of the invasion of France , but it abated enough to permit the landings to commence on 6 June . Initially , " Blessman " drew duty screening the amphibious command ship . Then , as " Operation Overlord " actually unfolded , " Blessman " switched to screening to seaward of the invasion force to deal with possible E - boat attacks . Mines , however , proved a much greater threat than any posed by enemy aircraft and ships . Attack transport struck one early on 7 June , while proceeding in what had been regarded as a swept channel . By 0805 the stricken auxiliary was taking water badly . Having lost all power , with her rudder stuck " hard left " , " Susan B . Anthony " assumed an eight - degree list to starboard . " Blessman " gingerly came alongside the doomed , drifting , ship and removed six officers and 38 enlisted men before being ordered away because of the imminent danger of the transport ' s foundering . Less than an hour later , " Blessman " sped to the assistance of the mined . After embarking 26 seriously wounded men , the destroyer escort transported them to an LST designated to handle casualties . Detached from " Overlord " on 12 June , after rounding out her duty screening the invasion force from air attacks and E - boat raids , " Blessman " reached New York on the 21st . She then escorted a troop convoy to Derry in early July and returned home as an escort for a convoy of transports bearing men wounded in the fighting at Normandy , and brought her sixth round - trip to a conclusion at the end of July . Conversion to high speed transport , 1944 . While en route home , " Blessman " had received word that she was to be converted to a " Charles Lawrence " - class high speed transport . Accordingly , she entered the Sullivan Drydock and Repair Corp . yard , Brooklyn , New York , on 28 July 1944 . She emerged from this major overhaul and alteration period on 25 October 1944 , reconfigured to handle four landing boats ( LCPL ) and troops . Redesignated APD - 48 , " Blessman " departed New York and headed for a brief shakedown in Chesapeake Bay before continuing on to the Pacific . The warship proceeded to her new theater of war , sailing via the Panama Canal , and , after touching at San Diego and San Francisco en route , reached Hawaii on 27 November . At Pearl Harbor , " Blessman " embarked Underwater Demolition Team ( UDT ) 15 and resumed her voyage westward on 11 December . Pacific theater , 1945 . She touched at Eniwetok , Saipan , Ulithi , and the Palaus , leaving Kossol Roads on New Year ' s Day 1945 , bound for Luzon . Enemy air attacks began to materialize on 3 January , as the invasion forces neared their objective . American sailors again encountered kamikaze s , suicide aircraft that they had first met only weeks before in the invasion of Leyte . The attacks continued over the following days , " off and on , day and night " . Invasion of Luzon . " Blessman " s primary mission off Luzon lay in sending UDT 15 to assault beaches Green No . 1 and Yellow No . 2 , covering the swimmers with her guns while they reconnoitered surf conditions , located underwater obstacles , and determined beach gradients . At 1430 on 7 January 1945 , " Blessman " stood in toward the Lingayen beaches and , by 1436 , had all four of her LCPL s in the water . The boats shoved off 20 minutes later . Reaching her assigned position off the objective at 1510 , " Blessman " soon commenced firing with her forward 5 - inch gun . She maintained covering fire for her UDT until shortly before she recovered her four boats . All LCPLs were on board by 1650 , and " Blessman " then headed to a rendezvous with to transfer UDT - 15 ' s commanding officer to that ship with the results of the day ' s covering the night retirement of TG 77 . 2 . reconnaissance . The transfer went off by 1815 , and " Blessman " took position in the screen . As that task group returned to the gulf to carry out its assigned shore bombardment mission , " Blessman " returned with it , bringing the commander of UDT - 15 back on board that morning at 0800 before the ship received orders to close and to lower a boat . She complied and soon embarked Capt . B . Hall Hanlon , Commander , UDT Pacific Fleet , and two members of his staff . Over the next two days , " Blessman " served as courier and delivered mail among the ships of TG 77 . 2 , each night taking a station to seaward in the screen of the task force . On 10 January , " Blessman " s unit had a close encounter with a kamikaze when she and other vessels in the screen took an enemy aircraft under fire at 0711 . " It finally dove " , wrote " Blessman " s commanding officer , " after circling high above as though trying to make up its mind who to hit " , and crashed close aboard a destroyer on the picket line to the east . Later that afternoon , " Blessman " , in response to the orders from the task unit commander embarked in " Humphreys " , sent UDT - 15 on a beach reconnaissance mission " from the east flank of Crimson Beach to a point east of that point . " Still later , she received orders to report to the commander of Destroyer Division ( DesDiv ) 120 for escort duty . Accordingly , she moved out , recalling her boats as she did so . A heavy surf prevented the recovery of four of UDT - 15 ' s men who finally found temporary shelter on board " LST - 627 " and " LSM - 11 " and who " Humphreys " later returned to their own ship . After Capt . Hanlon had returned from , and " Blessman " had recovered all of her LCPLs , the fast transport departed the area at flank speed and joined the designated task unit for the passage to Leyte , reporting " on station " at 2015 . On 13 January , " Blessman " arrived at Leyte and reported for duty to the Commander , Philippine Sea Frontier . After escorting transports back to Ulithi , the warship rested , reprovisioned , and trained for her next operation that would take her one step nearer to Japan . Invasion of Iwo Jima . " Blessman " reported for duty at Ulithi , and in company with other high - speed transports of TG 52 . 4 , on 3 and 6 February 1945 , conducted rehearsals for her forthcoming operation - the invasion of Iwo Jima . All units of the task force to which " Blessman " was attached , TF - 52 , sailed from Ulithi for Saipan on 10 February for further training and rehearsals that were carried out on 12 and 13 February . During these practice evolutions " Blessman " operated as a screening vessel . Her sonar gear failed on the 11th , but was left inoperative owing to the lack of time to repair the damage . On 14 February , TF - 52 , with " Blessman " among its warships , sailed from Saipan at 0900 . Her captain at this point was Lieutenant Phillip LeBoutillier . On the 16th , after the Fire Support Units 1 and 4 had commenced the pre - landing bombardment of Iwo Jima , " Blessman " was detached from the screen and conducted a close reconnaissance of the beaches while circling the island counter - clockwise . After screening the heavy ships that evening , " Blessman " rendezvoused with south of " Hot Rocks , " the code name for Iwo Jima , shortly after 0941 on the 17th . She then lowered three of her four boats and sent in UDT - 15 to reconnoiter beaches and observed small caliber shell splashes around her as she retired to seaward . Upon reaching a point some from the shore , " Blessman " stood off Beaches Blue 1 and Blue 2 for a little over an hour before standing in and recovering her boats . Despite the heavy opposition reported by UDT - 15 , only one man ( Frank Sumpter ) was hit by a bullet – he died of his head wound a few hours later ; the covering LCI ( G ) ' s , though , reported sustaining much damage and many casualties . That afternoon , " Blessman " carried out another beach reconnaissance , recovered all of her boats safely by 1751 , and stood out to the command ship . The following day , 18 February , she headed for a screening station . Damaged by bombs . While she was en route , however , an enemy bomber , identified as a " Betty " , came in at 2121 , very low over the port quarter , strafing , and scored a direct bomb hit in the high - speed transport ' s starboard mess hall , above her number one engine room . A second bomb hit her stack , glanced off , and splashed close aboard without exploding . Fire broke out immediately in the mess hall , galley , and troop quarters on the main deck ; and the ship lost all power . Heavy smoke forced the abandonment of the number two fire and engine rooms , while a 500 - gallon - per - minute portable pump was demolished and all other such pumps were rendered inoperable by the shock . This damage reduced " Blessman " s crew to bucket brigade s and the use of helmets to keep the blaze from spreading . Her sailors jettisoned topside ammunition aft , and attempted to clear ammunition from clipping rooms and bedding from troop quarters to halt the fire ' s spread . At 2250 , anti - aircraft and small arms ammunition began exploding , forcing the evacuation of wounded to the bow and stern . Meanwhile , bucket brigades kept the fire from spreading to the superstructure deck , confining the blaze to the enclosed spaces on the main deck . In all , 40 men were killed , including 15 of the UDT . " Just as destruction had come out of the night , " wrote " Blessman " s historian , help appeared as suddenly . " Gilmer " came alongside at 2310 , commenced pouring water on the blaze , and also sent across hoses . " Gilmer " evacuated the wounded in her boats and on " Blessman " s rubber rafts . By 0300 on the 19th , the combined efforts of both ships ' crewmen brought the fire under control , although some small arms ammunition continued to explode . After transferring all passengers and wounded to " Gilmer " , " Blessman " was taken in tow by and headed back to Iwo Jima . Towed around the northern end of Iwo Jima , " Blessman " buried her dead at sea and then - towed in turn by , " LSM - 70 " , and - reached Saipan at 1800 on 24 February and moored alongside . Her historian recorded that , on the voyage to Saipan " Blessman " ' s men " . . . lived more like soldiers than sailors , " cooking their meals in a makeshift fireplace on the fantail . As her chronicler also recorded it , " The repair officers at Saipan " he continued , " thought little of the practicability of restoring the ruined ship . " But , as they made their estimates , " " Blessman " s crew was busy . " The rapid strides her sailors made in carrying out repairs caused these experts to revise their estimates accordingly . Made seaworthy enough for the trans - Pacific voyage , " Blessman " arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 23 April 1945 for permanent repairs . While this work proceeded , the ship was designated as flagship for Underwater Demolition Squadron ( UDRon ) 1 . Clearing Mare Island for Oceanside , California , on 11 August , to embark Capt . Roy D . Williams , Commander , UDRon 1 , the ship reached that port on the 14th and embarked UDT - 17 . The next day , Capt . Williams hoisted his command pennant on board " Blessman " . Post - war activity and decommissioning , 1945 – 1946 . On 16 August , two days after V - J Day , " Blessman " sailed for the western Pacific to take part in the occupation of Japan . After stops at Pearl Harbor , Eniwetok , Ulithi , Manila , Subic Bay , and Okinawa , the fast transport entered Wakanoura Wan , where UDT 17 charted the landing beaches soon to be used by the Army ' s I Corps to occupy the Kobe - Osaka area . Five days later , " Blessman " stood out of Wakanoura Wan and headed for the west coast of the United States . Following a pre - inactivation overhaul , " Blessman " was placed in reserve on 28 August 1946 in the San Diego group of the Reserve Fleet . She was decommissioned on 15 January 1947 . Transfer to Taiwan , 1967 . " Blessman " was struck from the Navy List on 1 June 1967 , and on 3 July was transferred to Taiwan under the sales provisions of the Military Assistance Program . Renamed ROCS " Chung Shan " ( PF - 43 ) , the warship remained in active service with the Republic of China Navy into 1985 . Awards . " Blessman " received three battle star s for her World War II service .