USS Rooks ( DD - 804 ) USS " Rooks " ( DD - 804 ) was a " Fletcher " - class destroyer of the United States Navy , named for Captain Albert H . Rooks ( 1891 – 1942 ) who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor after the Battle of Sunda Strait . " Rooks " was laid down on 27 October 1943 by the Todd Pacific Shipyards , Seattle , Washington ; launched on 6 June 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . Edith R . Rooks , widow of Captain Rooks ; and commissioned on 2 September 1944 , Commander Robert F . Martin in command . World War II . Following shakedown off San Diego , California and an availability at the Puget Sound Navy Yard , " Rooks " steamed to the Hawaiian Islands for amphibious landing rehearsals and shore bombardment exercises . On 22 January 1945 , she got under way in company with a flotilla of LSTs for Eniwetok , Marshall Islands — the first stop en route to the forward battle area . " Rooks " and her LSTs then proceeded to Saipan for another landing rehearsal . Arriving at Iwo Jima on D - Day , 19 February 1945 , " Rooks " sent her LSTs on their way to the beach , then assumed duties as a radar picket vessel . In the afternoon she proceeded to the southeastern corner of the island to cover the Marine landings and silenced several enemy batteries . " Rooks " again fired on the Iwo Jima beaches 21 – 22 February and 25 – 26 February losing one seaman to shrapnel from a mortar on the 22d . During this period " Rooks " also provided radar warning and antisubmarine protection on the screening cordon thrown around the island . On 28 February , " Rooks " departed Iwo Jima for Saipan in the screen of a group of transports . She then proceeded in company with another destroyer to Ulithi ; escorted two escort carriers to Leyte ; and after training exercises , departed Leyte for Okinawa Gunto on 25 March . Arriving at Okinawa Jima on Easter Sunday , 1 April 1945 , " Rooks " began 87 consecutive days of shore bombardment during which she fired 18 , 624 rounds of 5 inch shells . During this period she went to general quarters for bona fide air alerts 131 times , and on four occasions was the direct target of kamikaze attack . She was credited with shooting down six enemy aircraft during the battle of Okinawa . In addition to shore bombardment , " Rooks " also occupied antisubmarine and antiaircraft patrol stations , and for a number of nights steamed with the surface covering force for the island operation . Every second or third day she proceeded to Kerama Retto to replenish ammunition , fuel , and provisions . 6 April was the most critical day in " Rooks " ' career . At 01 : 00 she assisted in shooting down six planes which attacked the Allied force . At about 16 : 00 , her area was subjected to an enemy air attack by at least 110 planes and , between then and 16 : 48 , she shot down one kamikaze and assisted in downing five others . At 17 : 12 she was called upon to assist and escort to port which had been badly damaged by a Japanese suicide plane . Arriving on the scene , " Rooks " found " Hyman " again under attack . After shooting down a Mitsubishi A6M " Zeke " and an Aichi D3A " Val " , she escorted " Hyman " into the Hagushi anchorage and sent a medical officer and pharmacist ' s mates aboard to aid the wounded . On 4 July , " Rooks " sortied with minecraft of various types and sizes , for a large - scale minesweeping operation to open the East China Sea . The only destroyer in the group , she was assigned as a fire support vessel , but her firing was confined to sinking drifting mines . She acted as a radar picket , as a " pointing " vessel in guiding the sweepers along their track , and was frequently called upon to furnish accurate navigational positions of the buoys laid to mark the limits of the swept area . This operation lasted throughout July . On 1 August , " Rooks " sortied from Buckner Bay , Okinawa , to escort and to Saipan . Proceeding on to Ulithi , she then escorted three transports to Leyte and after repairs , departed Leyte on 1 September . She escorted a group of LSTs to Okinawa , then , on the 11th , steamed for Nagasaki to assist in the repatriation of prisoners of war . She departed Nagasaki on the 15th for Okinawa with 92 former POWs , mostly British officers captured at Singapore . She then returned to Nagasaki and carried Rear Admiral William H . P . Blandy , Commander Destroyers , Pacific Fleet , to inspect the former great Japanese naval base of Sasebo . She continued to operate in Japanese and Okinawan waters until departing Yokosuka on 26 October for Pearl Harbor and San Francisco , where she arrived on 10 November . On 15 November 1945 , " Rooks " reported to the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Bremerton , Washington Assigned to the San Diego Group , she was placed out of commission , in reserve , on 11 June 1946 and was completely inactivated by 17 August 1946 . 1951 – 1962 . " Rooks " recommissioned at San Diego on 19 May 1951 and after a brief tour of duty with the Pacific Fleet , transited the Panama Canal to join the Atlantic Fleet and Destroyer Squadron 20 ( DesRon 20 ) at Newport , Rhode Island , on 13 October . During the next year she underwent training , particularly in ASW and completed a major overhaul . On 6 September 1952 , Destroyer Squadron 20 departed the east coast of the United States for Korea where " Rooks " supported the U . N . effort by serving as escort and planeguard for the fast carrier task force , TF 77 , and the U . N . Blockade and Escort Force , TF 95 . She was most active in shore bombardment , shelling the North Korean ports of Songjin , Wonsan , and Chongjin . In February 1953 she got under way to return to Newport , Rhode Island , via the Indian Ocean , Mediterranean , and North Atlantic , reaching Newport , Rhode Island , 11 April . At Newport , " Rooks " resumed operations with the 2d Fleet . During mid - 1954 she underwent overhaul and from September to February 1955 she was deployed to the Mediterranean . On her return to the United States she served as afloat training ship for the students of the Destroyers , Atlantic Gunnery School , then with the summer , shifted to ASW and convoy exercises in which she was employed for the balance of the year . During 1956 " Rooks " operated off the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean . During December she served on the Atlantic barrier patrol , then , with the new year , 1957 , resumed normal operations off the Atlantic coast , making two separate deployments to the Mediterranean , including one sortie into the Red Sea , by September 1958 . Following overhaul and further exercises off the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean , " Rooks " again deployed to the Mediterranean until August 1959 . During 1960 she conducted a 2 - month midshipman cruise and made a deployment to the Arabian Sea , via the Mediterranean , for a combined CENTO exercise . During 1961 she underwent training in the Caribbean and Atlantic ; then stood by , on station , for America ' s first manned space shot , Freedom 7 ; conducted a midshipman cruise to Halifax ; and participated in ASW operations in the northeast Atlantic , with calls at Portsmouth , England , and Rotterdam . " Rooks " continued to operate with the Atlantic Fleet until 26 July 1962 , when she was loaned to Chile under the Military Assistance Program . " Cochrane " . The ship served in the Chilean Navy ( " Armada de Chile " ) as Cochrane , named after Admiral Thomas Cochrane ( 1775 – 1860 ) , who commanded the Chilean navy ( 1817 – 1822 ) . " Cochrane " was stricken and broken up for scrap in 1983 . Awards . " Rooks " earned three battle stars for World War II services and two battle stars for service in the Korean War .