USS Lewis ( DE - 535 ) USS " Lewis " ( DE - 535 ) was a acquired by the U . S . Navy during World War II . The primary purpose of the destroyer escort was to escort and protect ships in convoy , in addition to other tasks as assigned , such as patrol or radar picket . " Lewis " was laid down by the Boston Navy Yard on 3 November 1943 , launched 7 December 1943 ; and commissioned 5 September 1944 , Lt . Comdr . Robert H . Stevens in command . History . After a shakedown cruise to Bermuda 28 September to 31 October 1944 , Lewis received a week of upkeep at Boston before sailing to Casco Bay , Maine , for a few days training in early November . In company with Henry A . Wiley ( DM - 29 ) , Lewis escorted battleships Texas ( BB - 35 ) and Arkansas ( BB - 60 ) south on 10 November . Joined two days later by Missouri ( BB - 63 ) , Wake Island ( CVE - 65 ) and Shamrock Bay ( CVE - 84 ) , the task unit proceeded through the Panama Canal and on to Hawaii via San Diego and San Francisco , arriving at Pearl Harbor on 5 December . The destroyer escort got underway on 26 December to escort merchant convoy PD220 - T , shepherding her charges to Eniwetok without incident on 4 January 1945 . Lewis sailed to Ulithi that same day , arriving at that atoll on the 10th . With large - scale operations in the Philippines requiring significant logistical support , Lewis spent the rest of the month conducted anti - submarine sweeps along the shipping routes and near Yap Island . On 1 February , Lewis , along with Silverstein ( DE - 534 ) , Howard F . Clark ( DE - 533 ) and Raymond ( DE - 341 ) , formed Task Unit 50 . 7 . 2 , an anti - submarine reserve unit assigned to the Logistics Support Force for the invasion of Iwo Jima . The destroyer escorts also provide screening services for Task Force 58 during air strikes against Japan in mid - February . The same task unit left Ulithi on 21 March for the Okinawa operation , screening Task Group 50 . 8 at sea in between escort and replenishment trips to Ulithi and Guam . During these operations Lewis was caught in the heavy typhoon of 2 June , at one point heeling over to 67 degrees . Lewis continued screening operations until 2 July when she was assigned to the Ulithi Surface Patrol and Escort Group , which was responsible for radar and anti - submarine services at Ulithi and providing escort services to periodic Okinawa - bound convoys . Lewis departed the Far East on 15 September and sailed for Hawaii , arriving at Pearl Harbor later that month . She remained there until 18 November when she sailed for California , arriving at San Pedro on the 23d . Transferred to the 9th Fleet , Lewis decommissioned on 31 May 1946 and entered the Reserve Fleet at San Diego on 30 July 1946 . Korean War . Following the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 , Lewis was refitted at the Mare Island Navy Yard , Vallejo , Calif . , and recommissioned there 28 March 1952 , Lt . Cdr . Gordon S . Hawkins in command . Following shakedown training out of San Diego in May and June , Lewis got underway for Korea on 19 July 1952 , making stops at Midway as well as Yokosuka and Sasebo , Japan , before reporting to the Commander , United Nations Blockade and Escort Force on 11 August . Assigned to the East Coast Blockade and Escort Group , Lewis operated with Republic of Korea patrol boats and minesweepers with Commander , Task Element 95 . 21 embarked . Starting on 26 August , the destroyer began two months of almost nightly shore bombardment missions against time sensitive targets , firing illumination and high explosive rounds against enemy truck and oxcart convoys , troop concentrations and railroad repair gangs . Highlights included shooting up two sampans in Wonsan harbor on 3 September , the 5 September destruction of a 40 boxcar train with almost 90 rounds of high capacity and white phosphorus shells and the 16 September bombardment of a 60 - man railroad repair team . Assigned to TE 95 . 20 on 11 October , Lewis and RoK PC 706 carried out anti - shipping patrols between Wonsan and Hungnam and warned neutral shipping such as Japanese fishing boats out of the coastal defense zone . Two nights later , Lewis took fire from a radar - controlled enemy gun battery , observing 28 air bursts and 56 water splashes during the duel , some of which exploded as close as 20 yards while others bracketed the evading destroyer out to 12 , 000 yards . In return , the destroyer escort fired 178 high explosive and 36 white phosphorus rounds , observing one direct hit on a gun emplacement followed by a secondary explosion and fire . The following day , 14 October , Lewis spotted five sampans off Cha Ho and drove them ashore with radar - directed long range gunnery . A week later , on 21 October 1952 , Lewis came to the aid of two RoK minesweepers under fire in Wonsan harbor . As she approached , at least four enemy batteries opened up on the destroyer escort . Lewis returned fire and laid down a smoke screen to cover the minesweepers retreat . Shortly thereafter the destroyer escort took two 75mm shell hits , the first plowed into the forward fire room and pierced the No . 1 boiler – killing six fire and boilermen outright and mortally wounding a seventh . The second hit exploded on the main deck , port side , lightly wounding one sailor . Following hull and machinery repairs at Yokosuka in mid - November , the destroyer escort sailed for home on 17 November , arriving in San Diego via Pearl Harbor on 2 December . Post - Korean War . Following an overhaul at Long Beach in early 1953 , Lewis carried out refresher training and local operations out of San Diego through mid - June . The destroyer escort then made a short trip to Mazatlan , Mexico , 25 – 28 June , before preparing for another overseas deployment . Departing San Diego on 14 July , the warship arrived at Guam via Pearl Harbor on the 31st . With the Korean armistice signed just four days previously , Lewis did not conduct combat operations , instead patrolling the Marianas Islands , the Ryukus and kept watch for communist violations of the truce in the Yellow Sea through the summer and into the fall . After a brief visit to Japan in late October , she turned for home before Christmas , returning to San Diego via Midway and Pearl Harbor on 18 December . After another four - month overhaul at Long Beach , the destroyer escort carried out refresher training before deploying again on 10 August 1954 . With duties similar to her last deployment , Lewis cruised off Okinawa and the east coast of Korea before returning home on 19 December . An almost identical deployment followed on 4 May 1955 , with the destroyer escort conducting exercises in Japanese waters and patrolling off Korea before returning to San Diego on 19 November . A longer modernization overhaul followed , with Lewis remaining in San Francisco between 21 November and 14 March 1956 . For her fifth deployment , which began 20 August 1956 , the destroyer escort sailed further south , stopping at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands on the 30th , before proceeding across the equator to Auckland , New Zealand , arriving there for a three - day visit on 7 September . Skirting the northern coast of Australia , Lewis then stopped at Townsville 14 – 15 September and Darwin 19 – 21 September before heading on to Singapore , mooring there on the 28th . Following stops at Subic Bay and Hong Kong in October , the warship then received voyage repairs at Yokosuka 16 – 30 November before returning to the Philippines for a month of operations out of Subic Bay . She then sailed for home in late December , stopping at Guam and Kwajalein for exercises before arriving in San Diego on 18 February 1957 . On 30 September 1957 Lewis deployed again via the South Pacific , visiting Pago Pago on 14 October ; Brisbane , Australia , on the 20th ; and Manus Island on 30 October before arriving in Guam on 2 November . Three months of island patrol operations in the Marianas followed before Lewis turned for home , arriving in San Diego on 2 March 1958 . Following an overhaul at San Francisco 1 May – 26 July 1958 , the warships ’ home port was changed to Guam and Lewis sailed to her new station on 14 October , arriving in Apra harbor on 1 November . She conducted island patrol and search - and - rescue operations there for most of the next year , interspersed with port visits to Subic Bay and Hong Kong in mid - April 1959 . During the summer and fall Lewis conducted survey work , helping map the deep waters of the region . Starting in November 1959 she took part in Operation Nekton , a series of deep dives in the Mariana Trench by Trieste , a deep - diving research bathyscaphe purchased by the Navy the previous year . On 23 January , Lewis helped track Trieste with her sonar gear as the bathyscaphe conducted the deepest manned dive ever undertaken , to the bottom of trench Challenger Deep 35 , 798 feet below the surface . Lewis departed Guam in February 1960 and sailed to Mare Island , Calif . , for inactivation . She decommissioned there on 27 May 1960 and entered the reserve fleet shortly thereafter . Recommended for disposal on 22 December 1965 , the old destroyer escort was struck from the Navy list on 1 January 1966 . Fate . Lewis was decommissioned on 27 May 1960 . She was struck from the Navy List on 1 January 1966 . The hulk was then towed out to sea by Tawasa ( ATF - 92 ) on 21 April 1966 and sunk as a target . Honors . Lewis received three battle stars for World War II service and one battle star for Korean War service .