USS Rall ( DE - 304 ) USS " Rall " ( DE - 304 ) was an of the United States Navy during World War II . She was sent off into the Pacific Ocean to protect convoys and other ships from Japanese submarines and fighter aircraft . She performed escort and anti - submarine operations in dangerous battle areas and returned home with three battle stars . She was laid down on 24 May 1943 ; launched on 23 September by Mare Island Naval Shipyard , Vallejo , California ; sponsored by Mrs . R . R . Rall , widow of Lieutenant ( junior grade ) Rall ; and commissioned on 8 April 1944 , Lt . Comdr . C . B . Taylor in command . World War II Pacific Theatre operations . Following shakedown and training exercises off the California coast in April and May , " Rall " departed San Francisco , California , on 9 June , escorting , and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 18 June . For the next three months , she supported the Pacific Submarine Training Command . On 23 September 1944 , the destroyer escort sortied from Pearl Harbor to escort troop ships carrying the occupation force for Ulithi Atoll . The task group arrived at Ulithi on 8 October and spent the remainder of the month on patrol and escort missions there and in the Palaus . In the early weeks of November , the destroyers served in an escort group protecting the oilers of Task Group 30 . 8 , which supported the assault ships at the Leyte Gulf landings . During this duty she rode out heavy weather from a typhoon with no serious damage . " Rall " sinks Japanese midget submarine . On 20 November a Japanese midget submarine torpedo ed and sank oiler in Ulithi Lagoon . Laying depth charge patterns at the site of swirls in the calm water of the lagoon , " Rall " was credited with sinking the submarine when debris and bodies surfaced . Support invasion operations . Following patrol duties in early December , " Rall " and escorted two escort carriers to the Admiralty Islands , then returned to Ulithi . On 14 December " Rall " with other ships sortied from that atoll and arrived in Hawaii in time for Christmas . After invasion rehearsals at Maui and Kahoolawe preparatory to the Iwo Jima assault , " Rall " got underway 26 February 1945 as a unit of the escort group convoying the garrison troops for the occupation of that island . The transports and their escorts arrived on 21 March and landed the Army occupation units . " Rall " then escorted the transport group carrying assault troops back to Saipan . From there she proceeded to Espiritu Santo , New Hebrides , arriving on 19 March . Assigned as a screening ship for the transports carrying the Floating Reserve , the 27th Infantry Division , for the Okinawa invasion , " DE - 304 " sortied from Espiritu Santo on 25 March for Ulithi and the Ryukyus . En route , the convoy made an unidentified submarine contact , and " Rall ' s " lookout spotted a floating mine in the convoy path and detonated it by gunfire . The task group arrived off Okinawa on 9 April , and " Rall " took a screening station about 10 miles southeast of Ie Shima . The next few days were quiet except for air raid alerts . Attacked by Japanese kamikaze aircraft . At 1925 on 12 April 1945 , the ship went to General Quarters . During the next three hours , 14 separate air attacks were tracked into the area , as the " Divine Wind " brought death and damage to the American invasion fleet off Okinawa . A raid of five Japanese planes approached " Rall ' s " sector . The destroyer escort ' s gunners commenced firing , splashing three of the kamikaze s . A fourth was destroyed by a cruiser , but the fifth broke through the fiery screen , and the plane , damaged and aflame hit the escort on the starboard side aft . A 500 - pound bomb slung beneath the plane tore through the ship , exploding in the air about 15 feet from the port side . The explosion and fire from the suicide plane , combined with strafing attacks from another wave of fighters , resulted in heavy damage , 21 dead and 38 wounded . Prompt damage control action extinguished the fires and temporary repairs were commenced . " Rall " entered the Hagushi Beach anchorage and moored alongside , where most of the wounded were transferred . The dead were removed the next morning for burial on Okinawa . Recovering from a kamikaze strike . After initial repairs , ComCortDiv 61 shifted his pennant to , and the " Rall " departed for the Kerama Retto anchorage on 15 April . She was ordered on to Ulithi , arriving there on 23 April . Following additional structural repairs , she left Ulithi for the last time and arrived at Seattle , Washington , on 18 May . End - of - War activity . Following repairs and overhaul , the ship headed for San Diego , California , on 12 July . Upon completion of underway refresher training , " Rall " left San Diego on 28 July , arriving Pearl Harbor on 5 August . Training occupied the time until 3 September , when " Rall " sailed for the east coast proceeding via San Pedro , California , and the Panama Canal . Post - War decommissioning . Arriving Charleston Navy Yard on 24 September , she was decommissioned on 11 December 1945 , and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 3 January 1946 . Her hulk was sold for scrap on 18 March 1947 . Awards . " Rall " earned three battle stars for World War II service .