USS Thomas E . Fraser ( DM - 24 ) USS " Thomas E . Fraser " ( DD - 736 / DM - 24 ) was a " Robert H . Smith " - class destroyer minelayer in the United States Navy . She was named for Commander Thomas E . Fraser ( 1901 – 1942 ) . " Thomas E . Fraser " was laid down as an " Allen M . Sumner " - class destroyer , DD - 736 , on 31 January 1944 at Bath , Maine , by the Bath Iron Works ; named " Thomas E . Fraser " on 1 March 1944 ; launched on 10 June 1944 ; sponsored by Mrs . Thomas E . Fraser . The ship was reclassified as a destroyer minelayer and redesignated DM - 24 on 20 July 1944 ; and commissioned on 22 August 1944 , Commander Ronald Joseph Woodaman in command . World War II . Following shakedown training out of Bermuda and mine warfare training out of Yorktown , Virginia , " Thomas E . Fraser " departed Norfolk , Virginia on 27 November and proceeded , via the Panama Canal Zone , to the west coast , arriving at San Diego , California on 12 December . After five days of intensive exercises off San Clemente Island , " Thomas E . Fraser " departed the California coast , steaming in company with and . On the 21st , the destroyer minelayers rendezvoused with two transports and entered Pearl Harbor on the 26th . " Fraser " devoted the last days of 1944 and most of January 1945 to intensive exercises in the Hawaiian Islands to prepare for her role in the forthcoming assault on Iwo Jima . Battle of Iwo Jima . On 27 January , " Thomas E . Fraser " got underway to screen Task Group 51 . 11 ( TG 51 . 11 ) as it proceeded via Eniwetok to the Marianas Islands . On the 11th , she reached Saipan , the final staging point for the operation . On the 16th , the force sortied for Iwo Jima . Two hours before dawn on D - day , 19 February , DM - 24 left the convoy screen to make an antisubmarine sweep through the transport area off the southern beaches of Iwo Jima . At 06 : 15 , she completed the patrol and proceeded to take station in the anchorage screen . After protecting the transports during the original landings , the minelayer proceeded in mid - afternoon to a fire support sector southeast of Mount Suribachi . At 17 : 37 — only 1 , 000 yards from the nearest beach — she began delivering call fire under the direction of a shore fire control party . She poured in five - inch fire on enemy machinegun and mortar nests on the northeast base of the formidable mountain . Shortly before sunset , she shifted her fire to positions in the caves near the base of Mt . Suribachi . Japan ese machinegunners on shore fired on the ship but did no damage . That evening , " Thomas E . Fraser " moved to a position southwest of Mt . Suribachi and delivered call fire and illumination rounds throughout the night . Her star shells made it possible for Marine mortars to foil a Japanese attempt to infiltrate an American position via the sea . In the days that followed , " Fraser " alternated anchorage screening duties with fire support missions to assist marines fighting ashore . Early on the morning of 21 February , as " Fraser " was firing on the northeast base of Mt . Suribachi , a near miss by a large shell of undetermined origin caused a hole in her starboard side just below the main deck . Nevertheless , she continued firing on targets of opportunity until late in the afternoon when she returned to anchorage patrol . During a dusk air raid alert on 23 February , " Thomas E . Fraser " opened fire on a Japanese airplane as it passed down the port side of the ship , but the raider disappeared , apparently unharmed . " Thomas E . Fraser " remained off Iwo Jima through the first week in March , providing screening for the transports and fire support for the marines fighting ashore . She scored hits on enemy supply dumps , machinegun nests , and entrenchments , and knocked out numerous gun emplacements . At night , she often fired star shells or delivered harassment fire . On 8 March , with the help of a plane spotter , her 5 - inch guns scored three direct hits on a Japanese blockhouse . Shortly before sunset that day , she departed that battle - torn island , escorting . Battle of Okinawa . Arriving at Ulithi on 11 March , the minelayer remained in the lagoon for eight days for upkeep , provisioning , and ammunition replenishment . On the 19th , she got underway in company with Mine Group 2 and steamed for the Ryukyu Islands . Before dawn on the 25th , the minesweepers began sweep operations — part of the large scale American efforts to prepare the waters of the Nansei Shoto for the planned assaults on Kerama Retto and Okinawa . The destroyer minelayer ( DM ) followed in the wake of the minesweepers , directing their movements and providing fire support . On that day , she fired at shore targets on a number of smaller islands of the Okinawa Gunto , observing direct hits . On the 27th , she fired at targets on the main island of Okinawa . The destroyer minelayer did not retire with the minesweeping group that evening but took up a patrol station off Okinawa and , throughout the night , fired illumination and harassment rounds on the island ' s southern beaches . In the eary hours of 29 March , " Thomas E . Fraser " fired on an attacking " Betty , " bringing the Japanese plane down in flames . Air attacks became more frequent in the last days of March ; and , after midnight on 31 March , the warship drove off an attack by a single Japanese plane . Minutes later , a dive bomber attacked . Hit by 5 - inch gunfire from the ship , the enemy aircraft passed overhead and splashed astern . At 03 : 20 , a low flying floatplane appeared without warning , dropped a bomb which exploded just off " Fraser " ' s port quarter , and disappeared into the night before the ship could fire a single shot . The DM continued her support and direction of the minesweeping group until the completion of its assigned sweeps later that day , then took up her station off Kerama Retto as an anchorage screening vessel . While screening Mine Division 7 southwest of Kerama Retto on 2 April , the warship took two planes under fire in quick succession , repelling the first and hitting the second with automatic weapons fire as it passed overhead . The attacker burst into flame and splashed . As dawn approached , the ship fired on other aircraft but scored no more hits . After taking on ammunition at Kerama Retto that afternoon , " Thomas E . Fraser " got underway to join a transport task unit for night retirement . As the warship approached the convoy , seven " Betties " attacked . Antiaircraft fire from the convoy and its escort downed four enemy planes . However , — five miles away — took a bomb hit ; and a kamikaze found its mark on the fantail of transport . " Fraser " continued screening duties off Kerama Retto until 5 April when she got underway to help escort a convoy of transports to Saipan . En route , orders arrived detaching her from the convoy ; and she proceeded with to Guam where they arrived on the 8th . Following the installation of a new radar antenna , Fraser moved to Saipan on the 18th and , two days later , headed back toward the Ryukyus with a convoy of tank landing ships . After conducting the convoy to a dispersal point off Nakagusuku Wan , the destroyer minelayer took up a screening station off the southern coast of Okinawa . On 28 April , a Japanese plane dove in low from the direction of the island , launched a torpedo which missed the ship , and escaped despite heavy antiaircraft fire . After dark , the ship repelled an enemy air raid and then steamed to assist a hospital ship which had been hit by a Japanese suicide plane . Finding damaged but proceeding under her own power , " Thomas E . Fraser " escorted the vessel to Guam where they arrived on 3 May . The light minelayer was next ordered back to Okinawa to strengthen the thinning ranks of American destroyers on radar picket duty off that island . Steaming on her starboard screw while her port engine was being repaired , the warship left Apra Harbor on 4 May and arrived off Okinawa on the 7th to resume screening and radar picket duties . While operating in the transport screen off Hagushi Beach on the 12th , she helped to fight off a swarm of Japanese suicide planes during the raid in which a kamikaze crashed battleship . Throughout the month , she alternated radar picket duty off Okinawa with maintenance and replenishment at Kerama Retto and Hagushi . Late in the day on 24 May , " Fraser " greeted the first planes of a concerted air attack from the north with gunfire and crashed one of her attackers on le Shima . The attack continued into the early hours of the 25th and was at last dispersed after 10 hours and 7 minutes . The ship then spent five days at Kerama Retto for the installation of fighter direction equipment and , on 30 May , resumed her picket duties southwest of Okinawa . As she steamed on station shortly before sunset on 1 June , two low - flying torpedo bomber s made a surprise torpedo attack . " Thomas E . Fraser " successfully maneuvered to avoid the torpedoes dropped by the planes and joined the picket group in engaging the intruders . On 6 June , " Thomas E . Fraser " relieved , the badly battered target of a mass kamikaze attack , on picket station . Two days later , she returned to Kerama Retto and began preparations for a new assignment — hydrographic survey and sweeping operations between Kerama Retto and Sakishima Gunto . Operating mainly as a buoy planting ship , the destroyer minelayer accompanied sweepers in the southern Nansei Shoto throughout June , returning twice to Kerama Retto to load radar buoys and undergo engineering maintenance . Toward sunset on 21 June , as she lay at anchor in Kerama Retto , " Thomas E . Fraser " took under fire an enemy plane which had penetrated the screen and had dropped a bomb on the forecastle of nearby . Joining in the firing , the DM scored an assist when the Japanese plane splashed not far from the seaplane tender . Into August , " Thomas E . Fraser " operated out of Buckner Bay , Okinawa , planting buoys to guide mine sweeping units clearing the East China Sea . After hostilities ceased , she steamed north to rendezvous with the 3rd Fleet . Delays kept the victorious forces hovering off the coast of Honshū for several days . On the 25th , the task force began its approach to Tokyo ; and , on the 27th , " Thomas E . Fraser " patrolled Sagami Wan . On the morning of the 28th , she supported and as they helped to sweep the channel in preparation for the entry of cruiser into Tokyo Bay . She ended August supporting sweepers clearing the Okinoyama minefield and was in Tokyo Bay on 2 September when the peace was signed on board . 1945 . In September , the minelayer operated with sweep units clearing mines in Kii Suido , in Wakayama anchorage , and off the Pacific coast of the Japanese islands . While anchored in Wakanoura Wan on the 17th and 18th , she weathered a typhoon whose 100 - knot gusts forced her to use her engine to ease the strain on her anchor . When the storm abated , she sent out a party to aid survivors and to remove confidential gear and publications from " YMS - 478 " which had broached and capsized . She continued off the Japanese coast into October . Following a week at Buckner Bay , she got underway on 25 October for a new sweep area in the East China Sea . Assigned to lay buoys and to assist in navigation , the warship operated in the northern reaches of the East China Sea into November . On 17 November , she put in at Sasebo for fuel and upkeep . On 1 December , she broke out her homeward - bound pennant , and the next day departed Japan , steaming via Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor , and arriving in San Diego on 22 December . 1946 – 1955 . On the 26th , she got underway and steamed via the Panama Canal Zone to Norfolk , Virginia , arriving there on 8 January 1946 . Late in March , the destroyer minelayer put in at Charleston , South Carolina for overhaul and remained in that port until late in the year when she participated in a reserve training cruise with which continued into January 1947 . From February until May , she operated out of various Caribbean ports ; then returned to Norfolk . On the last day of June , she departed Hampton Roads ; steamed to Recife , Brazil ; then proceeded on to the African port of Monrovia for a courtesy and good - will visit during Liberia ' s centennial celebration . After stopping at Senegal , she returned to the east coast on 16 August . The destroyer minelayer continued operations off the Atlantic coast ranging as far north as NS Argentia , Newfoundland and as far south as the Caribbean . On 1 December 1947 , she was immobilized ; but she was again back in service by May 1949 . Following local operations out of Guantanamo Bay in July , the ship departed Hampton Roads early in August and called at Cherbourg , France , before returning to the Caribbean where she remained until she returned to Charleston in November . In September 1950 , she broke the routine of training operations off the east coast with a Mediterranean Sea deployment which continued until 22 January 1951 when she departed Oran . In June , she was again underway for European ports , this time on a midshipman cruise which took her to Copenhagen , Plymouth , and Lisbon . In July , she visited Cuba before returning to the east coast . For the next three years , she varied exercises off the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean with brief voyages to Europe . In February 1955 , she engaged in mine planting off Key West , Florida in support of a fleet service mine test program , one of her last assignments . On 10 June 1955 , she was placed in reserve ; and , on 12 September 1955 , she was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard . Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1970 and she was scrapped on 1 June 1974 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . " Thomas E . Fraser " received three battle star s for World War II service . As of 2009 , no other ship in the United States Navy has been named " Thomas E . Fraser " .