USS Blair ( DE - 147 ) USS Blair ( DE - 147 ) was an Edsall - class destroyer escort built for the U . S . Navy during World War II . She served in the Atlantic Ocean the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys . She was named in honor of Chief Machinist ’ s Mate Eugene Blair , who was awarded the Silver Star posthumously for his brave actions when his ship was attacked and bombed by Japanese planes near Port Darwin , Australia , in mid - February 1942 . " Blair ( DE - 147 ) " was laid down on 19 January 1943 at Orange , Texas , by the Consolidated Steel Corp . ; launched on 6 April 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . Vestie Foster , the mother of three sons in the United States Navy ; and commissioned at Orange , Lt . Alden J . Laborde , USNR , in command . World War II Atlantic operations . " Blair " conducted shakedown training out of Bermuda before clearing those waters on 2 November in company with USS Pennewill ( DE - 175 ) . After escorting the oiler USS Kennebec ( AO - 36 ) to Bermuda , the new destroyer escort sailed to Charleston , South Carolina , where , on 7 November , the ship ' s SA radar was removed and DAQ HFDF ( High Frequency Direction Finding , or " Huff Duff " ) equipment was installed . Departing Charleston on 14 November , " Blair " reached New York on 16 November . After shifting to New London , Connecticut , for exercises , she returned to Staten Island , New York , briefly before departing New York in a convoy bound for Hampton Roads , Virginia . From there , the ship helped to screen Convoy UGS - 25 to North Africa . Relieved of escort duties on 11 December , she put into Casablanca the same day ; but tarried only briefly before heading home with GUS - 24 on 18 December . She escorted the Norfolk , Virginia , and Delaware sections of GUS - 24 to Chesapeake Bay on New Year ' s Day 1944 . " Blair " then sailed to New York for upkeep . After refresher training at Casco Bay , Maine , the warship returned to Chesapeake Bay to join a " hunter killer " force that embarked on its mission on 24 January 1944 . While crossing the Atlantic , she stopped briefly at Horta , in the Azores , to transfer her commanding officer to USS Livermore ( DD - 429 ) for medical treatment . He re - embarked as the two ships were catching up with their task group , task group TG 21 . 14 , which they rejoined on 15 February . The group reached North African waters five days later . For the next few months , " Blair " crossed and re - crossed the Atlantic , screening convoys to the United Kingdom , making a total of 10 round trip voyages between the east coast of the United States and the ports of Derry , Northern Ireland ; Liverpool , England ; and Cherbourg , France ; also frequenting Lough Foyle , Portland , Portsmouth , and Plymouth , England as well . On several occasions , suspicious contacts prompted the ship to drop depth charges and make " hedgehog " attacks , but none of her targets proved to be a submarine . During her first cycle in 1945 , she was detached from her convoy ( UC - 51B ) to stand by the Army artillery transport Lakehurst ( formerly APM - 9 ) as she labored across the Atlantic , " having difficulty with improperly secured locomotives . . . " Transfer to the Pacific . Her last convoy , UC - 70A , left the Welsh coast on 28 May and reached New York on 8 June . Proceeding down to Guantanamo Bay for refresher training soon thereafter , " Blair " exercised in Cuban waters until 17 July , when she sailed for the Panama Canal Zone . After arriving at Coco Solo on 20 July , she transited the Panama Canal on the 21st . She completed exercises with her antiaircraft guns on the 22d and wound up the foray by rescuing the crew of a becalmed schooner . Later that day , the destroyer escort sailed for San Diego , California , in company with USS Brough ( DE - 148 ) and USS Jacob Jones ( DE - 130 ) and arrived there on the last day of July . Post WWII activity . Underway from the west coast on 3 August , bound for the Hawaiian Islands , " Blair " was at sea when atomic bombs devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August , hastening the end of the war . She reached Pearl Harbor on 10 August and spent the next few weeks in upkeep , tender repairs , and operational training . During this period , Japan capitulated in mid - August and formally surrendered on 2 September . " Blair " sailed for the California coast on 4 September with 105 Navy passengers embarked and arrived at San Pedro , California , on 10 September . Leaving that port on the 12th with 75 Army passengers , " Blair " sailed for the Panama Canal Zone , bound ultimately for the east coast of the United States . She transited the Panama Canal on 20 September and reached Charleston , South Carolina , on the 25th . Through most of October 1945 , the warship underwent a yard availability to prepare for deactivation . She departed Charleston on 24 October and arrived in the St . Johns River , Florida , the following day . She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Green Cove Springs , Florida , on 28 June 1946 . Korean War reactivation . Following the outbreak of hostilities in Korea in the summer of 1950 , the U . S . Navy expanded to carry out its responsibilities in the Korean War , to meet its other growing Far Eastern commitments , and to face challenges in other areas of the world . " Blair ' s " reactivation began on 20 August 1951 ; and she was recommissioned at Mayport , Florida , on 5 October 1951 , Lt . Comdr . John L . Holmes in command . The warship spent the remainder of 1951 in local operations out of Jacksonville , Florida , Norfolk , Virginia , and Newport , Rhode Island . Clearing Newport on 8 January 1952 , " Blair " sailed for Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , and , after operations in Cuban waters and a visit to Kingston , Jamaica , returned to Newport in late February . Over the next four years , " Blair " operated out of Newport and the Fleet Sonar School at Key West , Florida , attached to Escort Squadron ( CortRon ) 10 . She deployed to European waters late in the summer of 1952 , visiting Greenock , Scotland ; Bergen , Norway ; and Cherbourg , France . Other ports of call which punctuated the ship ' s schedule in this time included Montego Bay , Jamaica ; Santiago and Havana , Cuba ; New Bedford , Massachusetts ; Fort Lauderdale , Florida ; the Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ; Castine , Maine ; New London , Connecticut ; Port Everglades , Florida ; Yorktown , Virginia ; Balboa , Panama Canal Zone ; and Fall River , Massachusetts . Highlighting the ship ' s operations out of Newport was her dramatic rescue of a family whose summer cottage had been swept into Narragansett Bay during Hurricane Carol in the summer of 1954 . Five of " Blair ' s " sailors risked their lives to save the three people who clung precariously to the roof of their perilous perch . Converted to Radar Picket Ship . Decommissioned again in November 1956 , " Blair " underwent conversion at the Boston Naval Shipyard to a radar picket ship . During the alterations , she was equipped with special detection gear to allow her to join the " barrier " of ships and planes set up to warn of the approach of a nuclear attack . Recommissioned at Boston on 2 December 1957 , Lt . Comdr . Richard L . Warren in command , " Blair " was reclassified as a radar picket destroyer escort and redesignated DER - 147 . The warship then proceeded to her new home port , Pearl Harbor , where she joined CortRon 7 . " Blair " carried out her shakedown training in the Hawaiian operating area in the spring of 1958 before commencing " barrier patrols " soon thereafter . By the end of the year , she had conducted four such deployments into the mid Pacific . " Blair " maintained this schedule of cruises out of Pearl Harbor into the spring of 1960 . Final decommissioning . She then proceeded to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard , where she was placed out of commission for the last time on 15 June 1960 . After she had spent more than a decade in reserve , her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 December 1972 , and the ship was sold for scrapping to the West Waterway Lumber Co . , of Seattle , Washington , on 26 September 1974 .