USS Rhodes ( DE - 384 ) USS " Rhodes " ( DE - 384 ) was an " Edsall " - class destroyer escort built for the United States Navy during World War II . She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys . Post - war she served the Navy as a radar picket ship . She was named in honor of Lieutenant ( junior grade ) Allison Phidel Rhodes who was killed in action as fought her last battle , the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal , on 13 November 1942 . She was laid down by the Brown Shipbuilding Company at Houston , Texas on 19 April 1943 , and was launched 29 June 1943 . Her sponsor was Mrs . C . E . Rhodes , mother of Lieutenant ( junior grade ) Rhodes , and was commissioned on October 1943 , Lieutenant Commander E . A . Coffin of the United States Coast Guard in command . World War II North Atlantic operations . Following shakedown off Bermuda , " Rhodes " , manned by a Coast Guard crew and assigned to CortDiv 23 , steamed to Norfolk , Virginia , thence to New York to escort a convoy back to Norfolk . Returning to Norfolk 2 January 1944 , she served as a training ship for prospective destroyer escort crews until the 13th , then sailed east , escorting convoy UGS - 30 to Gibraltar , where ships of the Royal Navy relieved CortDiv 23 . Returning 23 February , she departed Norfolk 13 March for Bizerte escorting the 98 - ship convoy UGS - 36 . Attacked by Luftwaffe Aircraft . Two days out of Bizerte , 1 April , the convoy was attacked by German bombers and torpedo planes . In the quarter - hour engagement , the escorts and naval gun crews splashed five of the Luftwaffe ' s " eagles " and kept damage to the " prey " to one cargo ship , which was subsequently towed to Oran . On the 3d the convoy reached Lake Bizerte and on the 11th got underway for New York , arriving 2 May . Availability , and exercises at Casco Bay , preceded another convoy run to Bizerte where Allied forces were gathering to push further into Axis - occupied Europe . " Rhodes " completed that run at Boston , Massachusetts , 11 July and , after availability , shifted to the North Atlantic sealanes , escorting six convoys to the United Kingdom and France during the remainder of the war in Europe . Transferred to the Pacific Ocean . After V - E day , " Rhodes " was transferred , with her division , to the Pacific . Transiting the Panama Canal in mid - June 1945 , she sailed north , arriving at Adak 8 July and reporting to Commander , Alaskan Sea Frontier , for duty as an escort and air - sea rescue vessel . Detached a week later and temporarily assigned to Task Force TF 92 , she escorted that fleet ' s service group during anti - shipping strikes in the Sea of Okhotsk and the bombardment of the Kuriles ( 15 – 21 July ) . Then resuming operations for the Alaskan Sea Frontier , she remained in the Aleutians until mid - November , when she sailed for Okinawa . Arriving at Buckner Bay 25 November , she joined the U . S . 7th Fleet and in December got underway for Tsingtao , where she supported occupation troops until 11 February 1946 . She then sailed for the east coast of the United States . " Rhodes " retransited the Panama Canal 19 March and arrived at Charleston , South Carolina , to begin inactivation on the 25th . Assigned to the Florida Group , Atlantic Reserve Fleet , she moved south in April and decommissioned 13 June 1946 . Conversion to Radar Picket Ship . " Rhodes " remained berthed at Mayport , Florida , until 24 July 1954 , when she got underway for Norfolk to begin conversion to a radar picket escort ship . Reclassified DER - 384 , 1 December 1954 , she recommissioned 1 August 1955 and on 12 September reported for duty in the Atlantic Fleet . Assigned to ComCortRon 16 , " Rhodes " conducted exercises in the Caribbean until late November , then returned to Norfolk , Virginia , where she remained into the new year , 1956 . Then sailing north , she arrived at Newport , Rhode Island , her homeport , 10 January and commenced 8 years of service on the Atlantic Barrier Patrol , the seaward extension of the Distant Early Warning ( DEW ) Line . During that period she served on various stations from Argentia to the Azores , interspersing such duty with exercises and operations in the Caribbean , including , in October – November 1962 , participation in the Cuban Quarantine . In 1963 Rhodes was again ordered inactivated and in April she steamed to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , to begin preparations . Final Decommissioning . Decommissioned 10 July 1963 , the destroyer escort was struck from the Navy list on 1 August 1974 and sold for scrap to Union Minerals and Alloys Corp . , New York , New York , on 1 March 1975 . Awards . " Rhodes " earned one battle star during World War II .