USS Stembel ( DD - 644 ) USS " Stembel " ( DD - 644 ) , a " Fletcher " - class destroyer , was a ship of the United States Navy named for Rear Admiral Roger N . Stembel ( 1810 – 1900 ) , who served in the Civil War . " Stembel " was laid down on 21 December 1942 by the Bath Iron Works , Bath , Maine ; launched on 8 May 1943 ; sponsored by Miss Mary G . Helfenstein ; and commissioned on 16 July 1943 , Comdr . T . H . Tonseth in command . World War II . " Stembel " conducted sea trials in the Casco Bay area and held her shakedown cruise in Bermuda waters from 11 August to 25 August . After a post - shakedown overhaul , she got underway on 2 October for San Juan , Puerto Rico , via Norfolk . Upon her arrival , she was assigned to a group of warships which sailed for Morocco on the 8th and arrived at Casablanca on 15 October . Three days later , she began a long journey to Hawaii , via Trinidad , the Panama Canal Zone , and San Diego . 1944 . The destroyer arrived at Pearl Harbor on 11 November and was overhauled during December 1943 . On 16 January 1944 , she sortied with the Fast Carrier Task Force ( then called TF 58 , while it was part of 5th Fleet ; at other times it was 3rd Fleet ' s TF 38 ) to support air strikes against the Marshall Islands which began on 29 January . On 17 February and 18 February , the carrier s launched raids against Truk , the powerful Japan ese base in the Caroline Islands , before the task force returned to Pearl Harbor . On 10 March , " Stembel " headed for the South Pacific . She joined a convoy of tank landing ship s ( LSTs ) in the Solomon Islands and escorted it to Aitape , New Guinea . She bombarded the landing area there prior to the landing on 22 April and then supported the troops ashore until 25 April . The destroyer escorted empty LSTs to Cape Sudest and returned to Aitape with a resupply convoy . In May , " Stembel " was attached to the 5th Fleet and designated flagship of LST Flotilla 16 for the invasion of Guam . The flotilla sortied from Eniwetok on 15 July and was standing off the Asan Beaches on the morning of 21 July . " Stembel " bombarded the shore until the assault waves headed for the beach , and then she acted as the communication and traffic control center for landing ships . She remained off Asan until 1 August when she sailed for Hawaii . " Stembel " arrived at Pearl Harbor on 11 August for tender availability and amphibious training exercises . She sortied with Task Group 33 . 7 ( TG 33 . 7 ) ( Tractor Group " Able " ) for Manus via Eniwetok . The task group arrived at Seeadler Harbor on 4 October to make final preparations for the invasion of the Philippine Islands . It sortied on 11 October and entered Leyte Gulf on 19 October . The next morning , " Stembel " was 4 , 000 yards off the beaches at Dulag , Leyte , protecting the landing ships and smaller craft against aircraft and submarine s . She sailed on 25 October for New Guinea , screening empty transports , and returned to Leyte with a resupply convoy on 18 November . " Stembel " next proceeded to Manus , joined the escort carrier group of TF 77 , and sailed for the Palau Islands . On 10 December , she sortied with TG 77 . 12 for the western Philippines , entering the Sulu Sea on 13 December . " Stembel " provided antiaircraft and fire support for the assault on Mindoro until sailing for Leyte Gulf on 26 December 1944 . 1945 . " Stembel " stood out of San Pedro on 4 January 1945 in the Lingayen Attack Force . The next day , she was ordered to join the escort carrier group . On the 8th , the group was attacked by Japanese kamikaze planes and " Kitkun Bay " ( CVE - 71 ) was holed at the waterline . The destroyer went alongside and removed over 360 men from the disabled carrier . The men were returned to " Kitkun Bay " the next day as she was proceeding under her own steam , and " Stembel " began patrolling the entrance to Lingayen Gulf . On 11 January she and four other destroyers were ordered to destroy enemy shipping in San Fernando Harbor . After sinking a 50 - foot tugger , an inter - island oiler , and damaging a cargo ship , she withdrew to bombard the town of Rosario the next day . " Stembel " sailed for San Pedro on 21 January and thence proceeded to Ulithi . She sortied from there on 10 February in the screen of the Amphibious Support Force for the invasion of the Volcano Islands . After staging off Saipan , the DD arrived off Iwo Jima on 16 February where she screened minesweeper s , conducted night harassment fire , bombarded the beaches for the troops as they landed , and then supported them with call fire until 7 March . After making voyage repairs at Ulithi " Stembel " joined the fast carriers and sortied , on 14 March , for an area east of Kyūshū . Air strikes were flown against that island on 18 March ; and , on 19 March , against Kyūshū airfields as well as against shipping at Kure and Kobe , Honshū . " Stembel " rescued two men from a downed plane from " Wasp " ( CV - 18 ) on 18 March and splashed an enemy aircraft the next day . " Stembel " saved a pilot from " Hancock " ( CV - 19 ) on 26 March and another three days later . Her task group was operating between 60 and 100 miles ( 100 – 160 km ) east of Okinawa as they launched pre - invasion air strikes against that chain of islands . The ship was forced to return to Ulithi on 11 April for repairs and then rejoined the fast carriers southeast of Okinawa on 21 April . " Bunker Hill " ( CV - 17 ) was hit and severely damaged on the morning of 11 May , and " Stembel " moved close aboard to aid in extinguishing the carrier ' s fires . She sailed for San Pedro , P . I . , via Guam , for a tender overhaul on 27 May . " Stembel " sortied from San Pedro on 1 July with TF 38 and operated with the fast carriers in Japanese home waters until 1 September . The destroyer and other fleet surface ships bombarded Kamaishi , Honshū , on 14 July and again on 9 August . On 29 and 30 July , they shelled targets at Hamamatsu , Honshū . On 1 September , the destroyer was detached from the fast carriers and sailed for the United States , arriving at Port Angeles , Wash . , on 13 September . She was given a preinactivation overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in November and then steamed down the coast to San Diego . She was decommissioned on 31 May 1946 and attached to the Pacific Reserve Fleet . 1951 – 1958 . " Stembel " joined the active fleet again on 9 November 1951 . After refitting , sea trials , and a shakedown cruise , the destroyer stood out of San Diego on 21 June 1952 en route to the Korean War Zone . From 26 July to 2 November , " Stembel " served with carrier TF 77 in support of United Nations Forces . She served as plane guard for " Boxer " ( CVA - 21 ) , assisted " Iowa " ( BB - 61 ) in bombarding Kojo and Wonsan , and patrolled the Taiwan Strait . She returned to San Diego on 5 January 1953 , and remained on the west coast until 16 May when she again deployed to Korean waters where she served until 8 December . " Stembel " deployed to the western Pacific from 17 June to 24 October 1954 , 17 May to 15 November 1955 , 9 July to 19 December 1956 , and from 8 July to 22 December 1957 . On 3 February 1958 , the ship reported to Long Beach for inactivation . She was decommissioned on 27 May 1958 and assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet . Contrary to what has appeared here before , the Stembel was NOT used in the 1959 Jerry Lewis film , Don ' t Give Up The Ship . The film ship was USS VAMMEN ( DE - 644 ) Ex - " Stembel " was stricken from the US Naval Vessel Register on 1 September 1975 . " Stembel " men of , crossed the equator " SHELLBACK " 21 JULY 1957 ; long : 180 degrees lat : 22 degrees 05 ' as mentioned in the ship ' s cruise book of that period ARA " Rosales " ( D - 22 ) . " Stembel " was loaned to the Republic of Argentina on 7 August 1961 under the Military Assistance Program and served the Argentine Navy as ARA " Rosales " ( D - 22 ) . " Rosales " was stricken and broken up for scrap in 1982 . " Stembel " received nine battle star s for World War II service and three for service during the Korean War .