USS Mills ( DE - 383 ) USS Mills ( DE - 383 ) was an Edsall - class destroyer escort built for the U . S . Navy during World War II . She served in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and provided destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys . Post - war , she performed additional duties for the Navy , including those of a radar picket ship and a safety and support ship for Operation Deep Freeze . She was named in honor of ensign Lloyd Jones Mills who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously for his brave actions in the Aleutian Islands in 1942 . She was laid down 26 March 1943 by Brown Shipbuilding Co . , Houston , Texas ; launched 26 May 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . James E . Mills ; and commissioned 12 October 1943 , Lt . Comdr . J . S . Muzzy , USCG , in command . World War II North Atlantic operations . After shakedown out of Bermuda , " Mills " trained nucleus crews for frigates and destroyer escorts off Norfolk , Virginia , until 10 January 1944 when she began transatlantic convoy escort duty . On her second voyage into the Mediterranean , Mills ’ convoy was attacked before dawn 1 April 1944 , 56 miles west of Algiers by German torpedo bombers . SS Jared Ingersoll , a Liberty ship , was hit and set blazing . " Mills " picked up survivors who had abandoned ship , and sent a boarding party to extinguish her fires . British tug HMS Mindfull and " Mills " then towed Jared Ingersoll to Algiers . Transferred to the Pacific Ocean . By V - E Day , for which she was moored at Brooklyn Navy Yard , " Mills " had completed nine voyages on escort duty to the Mediterranean , Ireland , the United Kingdom , and France . " Mills " left New York 30 May 1945 for the Panama Canal and Adak , Alaska , arriving 8 July . She served there as weather station , plane guard , and escort between Alaskan ports until sailing 20 August for occupation duty , arriving 9 September at Ominato Ko , Honshū . Briefly returning to Alaska 25 September to 17 November , " Mills " steamed west again to operate out of Taku and Tuington , China , until 11 February 1946 . Returning to the States via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal , she arrived Charleston , South Carolina , 22 March , sailed 25 April for Green Cove Springs , Florida , and decommissioned 14 June to go into reserve . Converted to Radar Picket Ship . Eleven years later , after installation of additional radar and electronic equipment and enlargement of her superstructure at Boston Naval Shipyard , " Mills " was reclassified DER 383 and recommissioned 3 October 1957 , Lt . Comdr . Joseph E . Feaster in command . Assigned as a radar picket of the North American Continental Air Defense System to deter surprise attack by locating and reporting aircraft headed toward North America , " Mills " sailed 3 April 1958 from Newport , Rhode Island , for Argentia , Newfoundland , to begin her first picket . She made 17 subsequent 3 to 4 week pickets on the barrier stretching from Newfoundland to the Azores through 28 July 1961 , as well as one off the southeast coast of the United States . Between 28 August 1961 and the end of 1963 , " Mills " served primarily on the new Greenland - Iceland - United Kingdom Barrier designed to extend protection to the NATO allies . Supporting Operation Deep Freeze . In 1964 , " Mills " was assigned to Operation Deep Freeze , the U . S . Naval Force supporting scientific research in Antarctica . During the austral summer seasons of 1964 65 , and 1966 67 , and 1967 68 , " Mills " took station to provide weather information and electronic navigational aid to aircraft ferrying men and equipment between Christchurch , New Zealand , and McMurdo Station , Antarctica . Each of these seasonal deployments required an 11 , 000 mile voyage via the Panama Canal to Dunedin , New Zealand , " Mills ’ " base of operations with “ Deep Freeze ” . At the end of each deployment , " Mills " completed a round the world cruise by returning to Newport , Rhode Island , via the Suez Canal . In 1965 , when she did not serve with “ Deep Freeze ” , " Mills " was underway school ship off Florida . On 3 September 1968 , " Mills " became an operational Naval Reserve training ship at Baltimore , Maryland . Awards . " Mills " received one battle star for World War II service .