USS McCook ( DD - 252 ) The first USS " McCook " ( DD - 252 ) was a " Clemson " - class destroyer in the United States Navy . She transferred to the Royal Navy and then to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS " St . Croix " during World War II . As USS " McCook " . Named for Roderick S . McCook , she was laid down 10 September 1918 and launched 31 January 1919 at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation ; sponsored by Mrs . Henry C . Dinger ; and commissioned 30 April 1919 , Lieutenant Commander G . B . Ashe in command . Following shakedown , " McCook " was assigned to Destroyer Force , Atlantic Fleet . She operated along the east coast until decommissioning at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania 30 June 1922 . She remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until recommissioned 18 December 1939 . The next year " McCook " was designated for exchange under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement with Great Britain . Steaming to Halifax , Nova Scotia , she arrived 20 September 1940 . Decommissioned on the 24th , she was transferred to Great Britain on the same date , but due to manpower shortages in the Royal Navy , she was retransferred immediately to the Canadian Navy and commissioned as HMCS " St . Croix " ( I81 ) . Following the Canadian practice of naming destroyers after Canadian rivers ( but with deference to the U . S . origin ) , " St . Croix " was named after the St . Croix River forming the border between Maine and New Brunswick . As HMCS " St . Croix " . Delayed by repairs necessitated by hurricane damage , on 14 March 1941 " St . Croix " assumed escort and patrol duties in Canadian waters . At the end of August she joined the Newfoundland Escort Force and plied between St . John ’ s , Newfoundland and Reykjavík . By May 1942 the force had been renamed the Mid - Ocean Escort Force and its range extended to Londonderry Port . " St . Croix " sank " U - 90 " on 24 July 1942 , which , with other U - boat s , had attacked her convoy ( ON 113 ) on the 23rd , sinking two merchantmen and damaging a third . On the return voyage , Convoy ON 127 was attacked by 13 U - boats . Between 10 September and 14 September eleven merchantmen and one destroyer were lost . En route from Londonderry Port to Gibraltar on 4 March 1943 with Convoy KMS 10 , she assisted HMCS " Shediac " ( K110 ) in the sinking of " U - 87 " some 200 miles ( 370 km ) off the Iberian coast . With the addition of air escort to convoy defense in 1943 , U - boat tolls in the North Atlantic diminished and many of the boats were withdrawn during the summer . In the fall , however , Germany began a new U - boat offensive . On 16 September , " St . Croix " , then on her first patrol with an offensive striking group in the Bay of Biscay , went to the aid of convoy ONS 18 , followed by ON 202 , both heavily beset by a wolfpack . The defense of these convoys resulted in a long - running battle with losses to both sides . The convoys lost three escorts and six merchantmen , with two escorts damaged . The wolfpack lost three U - boats . " St . Croix " was the first escort to be sunk , taking three hits in the stern on the 20th . HMS " Polyanthus " ( K47 ) was sunk by " U - 952 " as she came up to screen HMS " Itchen " " ' s " rescue operations . " Itchen " ( K227 ) , forced to retire that evening , returned the next morning and picked up 81 survivors from " St . Croix " and one from " Polyanthus " . The following day , 22 September , " Itchen " herself was torpedoed . Three men were rescued , two from " Itchen " , one from " St . Croix " . An additional member of the " St . Croix " crew survived by virtue of not having been aboard . Chester Francis " Frank " Rudolph was involved in a bar fight just prior to " St . Croix " leaving on her fateful final mission , and was prevented from shipping out due to a badly cut up hand . Naval officials did not realize initially that Rudolph had not been aboard , as his family received three telegram s stating he had been lost at sea , then rescued , then lost again , all the while he was in a military hospital in Halifax , Nova Scotia .