USS Andres ( DE - 45 ) USS " Andres " ( DE - 45 ) was an " Evarts " - class destroyer escort constructed for the United States Navy during World War II . Sent off to the dangerous waters of the North Atlantic Ocean during the Battle of the Atlantic to protect convoys and other ships from Nazi Germany ' s Kriegsmarine U - boat s and fighter aircraft , " Andres " performed escort and anti - submarine operations . " Andres " was originally built as HMS " Capel " ( BDE - 45 ) for the United Kingdom , allocated to the Royal Navy under Lend - Lease . Laid down on 12 February 1942 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard ; launched on 24 July 1942 ; sponsored by Miss Mary Elizabeth Schumacher , the daughter of Captain Theodore L . Schumacher , USN , who was assigned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard ; reclassified to DE - 45 on 25 January 1943 when the ship was reallocated to the United States Navy ; renamed Andres on 4 March 1943 ; and commissioned at her builders ' yard on 15 March 1943 , Lieutenant Commander Clayton R . Simmers in command . Service history . After fitting out , undergoing post - commissioning alterations , and completing acceptance trials , " Andres " proceeded to Bermuda , whence she carried out her shakedown from 12 April to 3 May . Upon completion of this training , she sailed for Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on 3 May . While in the course of her homeward voyage , at 1913 on the 4th , she sighted red signal rocket s off her port bow . Two minutes later she went to general quarters , changing course toward the direction of the rockets . Soon thereafter , she spotted a dinghy , awash in the sea , containing four men , 1 , 500 yards off her port bow , and three life rafts lashed together about 1 , 000 yards beyond . " Andres " then steered various courses and speeds , picking up men from the water ; these proved to be the 31 survivors ( 28 merchant seamen and three members of the Navy armed guard detachment ) of USAT Oneida , which , after straggling from a coastal convoy en route from New York to Guantánamo Bay , had foundered and sunk in bad weather at 0213 on 4 May , some 70 miles northeast of Cape Charles . The men had drifted nine and a half miles since the sinking . Completing the rescue effort at 1950 , and ascertaining from the survivors than no additional boats and rafts had gotten clear of Oneida before she had gone down , " Andres " then resumed her voyage to Philadelphia . She moored at the Navy Yard at 1257 on 5 May , and disembarked the 31 rescued men later the same day . World War II . North Atlantic . Following post - shakedown repairs and alterations , " Andres " then conducted further training off Rockland , Maine , and put of New London , Connecticut , before she proceeded to Miami , Florida , arriving there on 10 June 1943 for duty with the Operational Training Command , Atlantic Fleet . She then operated principally in the Florida Straits area as a school ship at the Submarine Chaser Training School ( SCTS ) , Miami , Florida , indoctrinating student officers and nucleus crews , and interspersed this training with periodic overhauls at the Charleston Navy Yard , South Carolina , ( 19 – 29 March , 25 June – 1 July , and 16 – 26 October 1944 ) . North Africa . Detached from that duty on 28 November 1944 , " Andres " proceeded to New York , reaching that port on 1 December 1944 , and reported for duty with Escort Division ( CortDiv ) 80 the following day . After refresher training out of Casco Bay , Maine , the destroyer escort then proceeded to Norfolk , Virginia , where she was assigned to Task Force 64 . Over the next five months , " Andres " operated with CortDiv 80 and escorted convoys to Gibraltar and back . News of the German surrender reached her on 7 May 1945 shortly after she had conducted antisubmarine warfare exercises off Mers - El - Kebir in company with , , and , and had concluded a " rescue of survivors drill . " " Andres " returned to the United States on 28 May 1945 . Assignment as a Training Ship . Following upkeep at New York , " Andres " conducted further training out of Casco Bay before she proceeded back to Miami , Florida , arriving there on 20 July . She resumed work as a training ship , this time with the Naval Training Center , Miami , Florida . Word of the Japanese surrender on 14 August 1945 found the ship operating south of the Dry Tortugas . Eric Theodore Andres . " Andres " was renamed after Eric Theodore Andres in 1945 . Eric Andres enlisted in the Naval Reserve on 25 October 1941 at Chicago , Illinois and underwent his initial naval training at the Naval Reserve Midshipman ' s School at Northwestern University . Promoted to ensign on 15 May 1942 , Ensign Andres was assigned to duty in , and joined his ship soon thereafter . Ensign Andres was killed on " Astoria " during the Battle of Savo Island on 9 August 1942 . Post war . Detached from the Naval Training Center , Miami , on 8 September 1945 , " Andres " sailed in company with the other ships of CortDiv 80 , and reached the Charleston Naval Shipyard on 9 September 1945 to commence inactivation . Decommissioned there on 18 October 1945 , " Andres " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 November 1945 . She was scrapped in February 1946 .