USS Rudderow ( DE - 224 ) USS " Rudderow " ( DE - 224 ) was a United States Navy destroyer escort named after Thomas Wright Rudderow . Lead ship of her class , she was laid down on 15 July 1943 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard , launched on 14 October 1943 and commissioned on 15 May 1944 , Lieutenant - Commander Malcolm W . Greenough , USNR , commanding . Service history . 1944 – 1945 . She completed her shakedown trials off Bermuda and throughout the summer of 1944 participated in submarine hunter - killer patrols and the escort of convoys along the East Coast of the United States . Departing Staten Island on 14 October 1944 , she sailed with her division ( CortDiv 74 ) for the Pacific , passing through the Panama Canal on 23 October and joining the 7th Fleet at $ 3 , New Guinea on 21 November . After coastal escort duties during December , on 8 January 1945 she set sail for Luzon and on 21 January saw her convoy of landing craft safely into Lingayen Gulf . Between then and 7 February she patrolled the Lingayen anti - submarine screen before escorting landing craft to Subic Bay and steaming back to Lingayen Gulf to cover the retirement of LST s , LCT s , and a fleet oiler to Leyte . A week later she steamed into the Mindanao Sea to assist the torpedoed destroyer and escort her to San Pedro Bay . On 24 February 1945 , she began preparations for Operation Victor IV , the assault and occupation of Zamboanga . Setting sail on 8 March , she arrived off the landing area with echelon V - 4 - E early on 10 March . As U . S . troops pushed into the Zamboangan peninsula , she patrolled the Tictauran and Great Santa Cruz Island s , retiring on 11 March and returning with a reinforcement convoy from Leyte on 16 March . From 25 to 28 March she escorted a convoy from Puerto Princesa , Palawan to Zamboanga , then sailed north to arrive in Mangarin Bay , Mindoro for anti - submarine patrol duty starting on 30 March . By mid - April 1945 , she was back at Leyte and by the end of the month was once more operating in the Sulu Sea . On 5 May , she departed Tawi Tawi and headed southwest to escort a PT boat drydock and gasoline barge being towed by the to Tarakan , Borneo . Between 8 to 11 May she escorted resupply convoys from Morotai to Borneo and on 12 to 13 May towed a damaged PBM 261 miles to Tawi Tawi . She then returned briefly to the Halmaheras before setting sail for Leyte and much - needed repairs on 19 May . She returned to sea in June 1945 , escorting landing craft to Panay and resupply convoys to Morotai . On 18 June she reported for Philippine Sea Frontier duty and commenced inter - island escorts between Hollandia and Ulithi . From 27 July to 1 August she escorted reinforcements to Okinawa , then returned to the Philippines where she remained to the end of the year . Decommissioning and sale . On 3 January 1946 , she set sail for the United States . Arriving at San Diego by the end of the month , in March she was designated in reserve and was decommissioned on 15 January 1947 . In May 1957 she was transferred to the San Francisco Group , Pacific Reserve Fleet , where she remained until struck from the Navy List on 1 November 1969 . She was then sold for scrap the following October . Military awards and honors . During World War II , the USS " Rudderow " earned two battle star s .