USS Yokes ( APD - 69 ) USS " Yokes " ( APD - 69 ) , ex - DE - 668 , was a United States Navy high - speed transport in commission from 1944 to 1946 . Construction and commissioning . " Yokes " was laid down as the " Buckley " - class destroyer escort USS " Yokes " ( DE - 668 ) on 22 August 1943 at Orange , Texas , by the Consolidated Shipbuilding Company and launched as such on 27 November 1943 , sponsored by Mrs . Charlotte Yokes , widow of the ships namesake , Seaman Second Class William J . Yokes . " Yokes " was reclassified as a " Charles Lawrence " - class high - speed transport and redesignated APD - 69 on 27 June 1944 . After conversion to her new role , she was commissioned on 18 December 1944 with Lieutenant Commander Paul E . Warfield , USNR , in command . Service history . World War II . After shakedown off Bermuda and post - shakedown repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth , Virginia , " Yokes " steamed to the United States West Coast via the Panama Canal , and arrived at San Diego , California , on 14 March 1945 . After further training , " Yokes " departed San Diego on 19 March 1945 , bound for the Hawaiian Islands . She made port at Pearl Harbor , Territory of Hawaii , on 26 March 1945 and trained at Maui with underwater demolition team s for one week before she departed for World War II service in the Western Pacific . Arriving at Okinawa on 1 May 1945 , " Yokes " operated in that vicinity through June , serving in the Okinawa campaign as an antisubmarine screening vessel , a rescue ship , and as an escort ship . On 10 May 1945 , her gunners claimed a Japan ese Mistubishi A6M " Zeke " ( or " Zero " ) fighter shot down . " Yokes " moved to the Mariana Islands in July 1945 , escorting Landing Ship Tank Flotilla 36 from Okinawa to Saipan between 4 and 10 July 1945 and then briefly anchoring at Apra Harbor , Guam , before heading for Pearl Harbor , where the ship took on board the 14 officers and 79 enlisted men of Underwater Demolition Team 28 on 25 July 1945 . She then steamed on to the U . S . West Coast , reaching Oceanside , California on 2 August 1945 . Transferring Underwater Demolition Team 28 to tank landing craft USS " LCT - 395 " upon her arrival at Oceanside , " Yokes " departed Oceanside for San Diego that same day . Shifting to the Western Pipe and Steel Company shipyard at San Pedro , California , on 5 August 1945 , " Yokes " underwent 15 days of repairs there , during which World War II came to end with the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 . Postwar . Upon completion of her repairs , " Yokes " conducted a brief stint of training off the coast of Southern California . She then departed San Diego on 5 September 1945 to return to the Far East , touching at Manila Bay , Subic Bay , Tacloban , and Samar in the Philippine Islands , Buckner Bay on Okinawa , Guam , Manus Island , and Shanghai , China , on transport operations into the winter of 1945 - 1946 . Departing Manila Bay on 23 January 1946 , " Yokes " steamed via Pearl Harbor to San Diego , which she reached on 15 February 1946 . She remained there undergoing repairs through the summer of 1946 . Decommissioning and disposal . Decommissioned at San Diego on 19 August 1946 , " Yokes " was berthed there in the San Diego Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet . After nearly 18 years of inactivity in reserve , she was stricken from the Navy List on 1 April 1964 and in 1965 was sold to the National Metal and Steel Corporation of Terminal Island , California , for scrapping . Honors and awards . " Yokes " received one battle star for her World War II service in the Okinawa campaign .