USS Tatum ( DE - 789 ) USS " Tatum " ( DE - 789 / APD - 81 ) was a of the United States Navy , named for Lieutenant Commander Laurice Aldridge Tatum ( 1894 – 1942 ) . " Tatum " was laid down by the Consolidated Steel Corp . on 22 April 1943 ; launched on 7 August 1943 , sponsored by Mrs . Cecile Cofield Tatum , and commissioned on 22 November 1943 , Lt . Comdr . William C . D . Bellinger USN , in command . Destroyer Escort ( DE ) . After shakedown training in the vicinity of Bermuda , the destroyer escort performed escort duty along the east coast until 25 March when she departed Tompkinsville , N . Y . , in the screen of a convoy bound for England . She reached Plymouth on 19 April and returned — via Milford Haven , Wales , and Belfast , Northern Ireland — to New York City on 12 May . Her second and third transatlantic voyages took the ship to North Africa . She departed the east coast on 28 May in the screen of the escort carrier s , , and headed for French Morocco . Upon delivering planes at Casablanca , the warships returned to the United States on 17 June 1944 , and " Tatum " moored at Bayonne , N . J . She joined " Kasaan Bay " and " Tulagi " once again on 28 June as they weighed anchor for Algeria . The ships made Oran on 10 July ; and , the next day , " Tatum " got under way to pick up SS " Cross Keys " at Casablanca and escort her to Bizerte , Tunisia . The destroyer escort returned to Oran on the 16th and , four days later , cleared port once again to protect the British aircraft carrier s and during their passage to Malta . On the 23d , " Tatum " dropped 130 depth charge s on a submarine contact but apparently scored no kill . The force reached Malta on 25 July . Augmented by " Kasaan Bay " and " Tulagi " , the unit steamed to Alexandria , Egypt , and then returned to Malta where they arrived on 3 August . The next day , " Tatum " reported to Naples where she embarked the commander of a landing craft convoy for the impending invasion of southern France . " Tatum " stood out of Naples on 9 August , joined the landing craft in the Gulf of Pozzuoli , and escorted them to the staging area at Ajaccio , Corsica . Before dawn on the 15th , the convoy arrived off St . Tropez where " Tatum " transferred the convoy commander to " LCI - 196 " . She then patrolled off Cape Camarat until the following afternoon . From 17 July until early autumn , " Tatum " protected convoys shuttling between Corsica , Sardinia , and southern France . On 16 October , she departed Marseilles in the screen of a convoy bound for Bizerte and Oran . During the early part of November , " Tatum " escorted another convoy from Oran to Marseilles then screened the Army transport " Mariposa " to Naples and returned to Oran on 15 November . " Tatum " got underway again on 24 November to screen a convoy back to the United States , arriving at New York on 11 December . High Speed Transport ( APD ) . On 12 December 1944 , she began conversion to a high - speed transport at Tompkinsville . On 15 December 1944 , she was officially redesignated APD - 81 . " Tatum " ( APD - 81 ) cleared Tompkinsville on 6 March 1945 , steamed to the Chesapeake Bay for training until the 14th , and stood out of Hampton Roads on the 16th in company with . Following port calls at Panama and San Diego , " Tatum " entered Pearl Harbor on 12 April 1945 . She conducted more training in the Hawaiian Islands before getting underway with a convoy headed , via the Marshalls and Carolines , for the Ryūkyūs . " Tatum " arrived off Okinawa ' s Hagushi beaches on 19 May and reported for duty with the antiaircraft and antisubmarine pickets stationed around the island . At dusk on 29 May , the warship was proceeding to her radar picket station when she was attacked by four enemy planes . As the first intruder swooped in across her bow , " Tatum " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s guns opened up and scored hits on his wing and fuselage . He banked sharply and headed for the ship ' s starboard side . About 40 feet from her , the plane ' s left wing and tail struck the water , jarring loose his bomb . It skipped off the surface , struck and careened off the underside of a gun sponson , and pierced " Tatum " ' s hull and two of her longitudinal bulkheads . The dud came to rest with its nose protruding eight inches into the passageway inboard of the executive officer ' s stateroom . The plane also skimmed over the water into " Tatum " , dented her hull , and knocked out her director fire control and communications with the engine room . Meanwhile , the second and third planes were setting up for their attack . " Tatum " drove one of them off with gunfire , but the other pilot continued on toward the ship until a hail of gunfire caused him to lose control of his aircraft . He banked sharply to the right , passed by " Tatum " < nowiki > ' < / nowiki > s port side , and splashed about 100 yards astern . Within seconds , his cautious comrade renewed his attack . He dove on the fast transport , barely missing the port wing of her bridge , and " Tatum " ' s antiaircraft fire followed him up as he climbed , did a wing - over , and prepared to come in again . His third and final attack carried him across the ship ' s fantail and into the water about 50 feet from her starboard quarter . The fourth plane apparently had been holding back waiting for his colleagues to open a favorable route of attack . He then circled , banked to his left , and dove at " Tatum " . Her barrage ripped off part of his left wing , and he plummeted toward the water , splashing into the sea about 30 feet from her port bow . Then an underwater explosion rocked " Tatum " severely but caused no damage . Despite considerable damage to the fast transport , her crew had all essential equipment back in operation within 15 minutes . Relieved by later that evening , she stopped at Hagushi to take on a bomb disposal officer and moved two miles out to sea where the dud was disarmed and dropped overboard . " Tatum " returned to Hagushi the following morning ; then moved to Kerama Retto for repairs . " Tatum " underwent temporary repairs and departed the Okinawa area on 11 June to escort a convoy to Ulithi . From there , she screened to San Pedro Bay , Leyte , where her permanent repairs were completed ; and " Tatum " conducted exercises with , , , and . On 18 August , she departed San Pedro Bay to escort and " Mississippi " to Okinawa , entering Buckner Bay on the 21st . " Tatum " spent eight more months in the Far East , assisting in various phases of the post war occupation and reconstruction . Between 9 and 11 September , she screened a task unit carrying occupation officials from Buckner Bay to Wakanoura Wan , Honshū , Japan . She remained there until 19 September , assisting in the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war . From there , she shifted to Nagasaki where she supplied boats for the evacuation pool . On 25 September , " Tatum " put to sea for Buckner Bay where she arrived the following day . Three weeks later , the high - speed transport sailed for the Philippines . At Manila , she joined a convoy of troopships bound for French Indochina and arrived at Haiphong on 2 November . After embarking soldiers of the Chinese 52d Army , the convoy got underway on the 4th for Chinwangtao where it arrived on the 12th and disembarked the troops . " Tatum " continued to shuttle passengers between Chinese ports until mid - April 1946 . On the 12th , she stood out of Hong Kong to return to the United States . After stops at Guam , in the Marshalls , and at Pearl Harbor , the ship reached San Pedro , California , on 9 May 1946 . On the 18th , she resumed her voyage east and arrived at Philadelphia , Pa . , on 3 June . By 5 July , she was in the Charleston ( S . C . ) Navy Yard undergoing inactivation overhaul . In mid - October , the highspeed transport was towed to Green Cove Springs , Florida where she was placed out of commission on 15 November 1946 . " Tatum " remained out of commission , in reserve , until 1 June 1960 when her name was struck from the Navy List . On 8 May 1961 , she was sold for scrap to the Southern Scrap Metal Co . , New Orleans , Louisiana USS " Tatum " earned two battle star s during World War II . References .