USS Pavlic ( APD - 70 ) USS " Pavlic " ( APD - 70 ) was built by Dravo Corporation at Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania as a Buckley - class destroyer escort . " Pavlic " was launched 18 December 1943 and towed to Texas for refitting as a United States Navy high - speed transport . " Pavliv " was in commission from 1944 to 1946 , serving in the Okinawa campaign as a radar picket ship . " Pavlic " was decommissioned 15 November 1946 . After more than 20 years of inactivity in reserve , she was stricken from the Navy List on 1 April 1967 . On 1 July 1968 , she was sold for scrapping to North American Smelting Company . Construction and commissioning . USS " Pavlic " ( DE - 669 ) was laid down as a " Buckley " - class destroyer escort on 21 September 1943 by the Dravo Corporation at Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . Named for Lieutenant Commander Milton Frank Pavlic , who was assigned aboard the new battleship USS " South Dakota " when she commissioned 20 March 1942 . " South Dakota " sailed to the Pacific where her battle group engaged a force of Japanese warships . She was badly damaged in the action . Lt . Comdr . Pavlic died in the battle and was posthumously was awarded the Purple Heart Medal . USS " Pavlic " was launched 18 December 1943 , sponsored by Mrs . Milton F . Pavlic . After launching , USS " Palvic " was towed to Orange , Texas , for fitting out at the Consolidated Shipbuilding Company shipyard . After a six - month long conversion , USS " Pavlic " was reclassified as a " Charles Lawrence " - class and was renamed USS " Pavlic " APD - 70 on 27 June 1944 . After her conversion , she was re - commissioned at Orange , Texas on 29 December 1944 , with Lieutenant Commander C . V . Allen , USNR , in command . Service history . World War II . After her shakedown cruise off Bermuda and amphibious warfare training at Portsmouth , Virginia , USS " Pavlic " departed Norfolk , Virginia , on 22 February 1945 for World War II service against the Japan ese in the Pacific . She steamed via the Panama Canal to San Diego , California , before moving on to Pearl Harbor , Territory of Hawaii , where she arrived on 21 March 1945 . Following training exercises in Hawaii , she departed Pearl Harbor on 13 April 1945 and steamed to Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands . She then stopped at Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands before arriving in the Ryukyu Islands to participate in the Okinawa campaign From 3 to 9 May 1945 , " Pavlic " was stationed on the picket line off Okinawa , fighting off several Japanese air raid s and performing rescue work . On 5 May 1945 her crew picked up the remains of USS LSM ( R ) - 195 crew man , George J . Ruhlman , after his ship was sunk by a Kamikaze attack off Okinawa on 4 May 1945 . On 10 May 1945 , she escorted the hospital ship to Guam , then returned to Hagushi Anchorage off Okinawa on 12 May 1945 to resume patrol work . On 18 May 1945 , " Pavlic " was designated as a " special rescue vessel " and continued her rescue work while undergoing several heavy Japanese air raids . On 27 May 1945 , " Pavlic " repelled her first direct Japanese " kamikaze " suicide attack . On 28 May 1945 , she opened fire on a low - flying Japanese Mistubishi G4M " Betty ” bomber which was operating as a torpedo bomber , causing it to veer away . " Pavlic " and her sister ship , the high - speed transport , picked up survivors from the destroyer , which had been sunk by two kamikaze attacks . Once the survivors were aboard , " Pavlic " sailed for Hagushi Anchorage for medical exam and wound dressing . On 29 May 1945 she picked up survivors from destroyer USS " Shubrick " ( DD - 639 ) , which also had been damaged by a suicide plane . For the remainder of World War II " Pavlic " continued to serve in the Pacific war zone , primarily in the Ryukyu Islands . On 14 August 1945 , " Pavlic " got underway , joining the United States Third Fleet off Tokyo , Japan . World War II ended with the surrender of Japan on 15 August 1945 . Postwar . On 18 August 1945 , " Pavlic " made rendezvous with the British Pacific Fleet and took on board a Royal Navy and Royal Marine amphibious landing force from the British light cruiser HMS " Newfoundland " and the Royal New Zealand Navy light cruiser HMNZS " Gambia " . On 27 August 1945 she arrived at Honshu , Japan , entering Sagami Bay in the shadow of Mount Fuji , and on 30 August 1945 she steamed into Tokyo Bay with high - speed transports and , and debarked landing forces to demilitarize and raise the colors over Fort Number 2 and Fort Number 4 , guarding the entrance to Tokyo Bay . The landing forces returned , and " Pavlic " proceeded to Yokosuka Ko . On 31 August 1945 , with L Company of the United States Marine Corps s 4th Marine Regiment embarked , " Pavlic " made the short run to Tateyama Bay to secure the large Japanese naval air station there and remained there until 3 September 1945 supporting the Marines . On 3 September , after a United States Army occupation regiment relieved them , she reembarked the Marines and returned to Yokosuka Ko . On 9 September 1945 , " Pavlic " was designated as a barracks ship . On 15 April 1946 , " Pavlic " departed Japan for the United States and , after astop at San Diego and overhaul at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and the Charleston Naval Shipyard at Charleston , South Carolina , was towed to Green Cove Springs , Florida , for inactivation . Decommissioning and disposal . USS " Pavlic " was decommissioned at Green Cove Springs on 15 November 1946 , and placed in the Florida Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet on the St . Johns River . After more than 20 years of inactivity in reserve , she was stricken from the Navy List on 1 April 1967 . Three months later , on 1 July 1968 , she was sold to North American Smelting Company as scrap . Honors and awards . " Pavlic " received one battle star for her World War II service in the Okinawa campaign .