USS Norris ( DD - 859 ) USS " Norris " ( DD - 859 ) was one of 98 s in the United States Navy during the end of World War II . " Norris " was active from 9 June 1945 to 4 December 1970 . Although built too late to see action during the war , the ship served in the Pacific , Atlantic , Asiatic , and Mediterranean areas . She was named for Major Benjamin White Norris , USMCR , who was killed in action at the Battle of Midway and posthumously awarded the Navy Cross . Construction and commissioning . " Norris " was laid down on 29 August 1944 by Bethlehem Steel Corp . in San Pedro , California . She was sponsored by the widow of Major Benjamin Norris , by proxy , Mrs . Charles Browning ; and commissioned on 9 June 1945 , Commander T . A . Nisemann in command . 1945 – 1950 : Training , patrol , overhaul , and Mediterranean deployment . After shakedown off California , " Norris " served three months with the Pre - Commissioning Training Center of Treasure Island , then sailed for duty off Hawaii . Her next assignment was Far Eastern patrol operations , for which she arrived at Hong Kong on 7 February 1946 . Much of this deployment was spent preventing smuggling and privateering along the Chinese and Korean coasts . She returned to San Diego on 22 February 1947 , and then returned again to the China coast where she remained from 8 January to 16 July 1948 . After an overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard which included extensive alterations enhancing her anti - submarine capability , " Norris " joined the Atlantic Fleet at Newport , Rhode Island in October . Reclassified as destroyer escort DDE - 859 on 4 March 1950 , she trained for her first Mediterranean deployment , for which she sailed on 5 July , just after the outbreak of the Korean War . She was accordingly ordered on through the Suez Canal to join the United States Seventh Fleet in the combat area . Late 1950 – mid 1952 : Korean War service . Joining in blockade , patrol , fire support , and screening duties , " Norris " gave gunfire support during the Hŭngnam evacuation in early December 1950 , and while on blockade rescued 21 South Koreans from a drifting junk off North Korea . Returning to Newport early in March 1951 , " Norris " overhauled at Boston and trained in the North Atlantic and Caribbean until sailing on 19 April 1952 for her deferred first Mediterranean deployment . Mid 1952 – 1954 : NATO exercise , Mediterranean cruises , collision . Peacekeeping duty with the United States Sixth Fleet continued until 27 June , when she returned to Newport to prepare for " Operation Main Brace " , a major NATO exercise in the North Sea that took place from 26 August to 12 October . Mediterranean cruises from April 1952 – February 1953 and January 1954 – May 1954 followed , and from 28 June 1954 she operated primarily with the Hunter - Killer Force of the Atlantic Fleet for the next 15 months . During a fleet exercise on 1 November , she collided with when the submarine was attempting to fire torpedoes at the surface attack force . 1955 – 1957 : Gibraltar , North Atlantic , and South America . From 2 May to 4 June 1955 she escorted replacements for the 6th Fleet to Gibraltar , then returned to anti - submarine evaluation and training in the western Atlantic and Caribbean , broken by a three - week patrol in the North Atlantic during the November 1956 Suez crisis . With Destroyer Squadron 24 she made an extended training cruise to South America from early January to late March 1957 , visiting ports in Brazil , Argentina , and Uruguay between antisubmarine exercises with various Latin American navies . She returned to the Mediterranean from August to December 1957 , also serving in the Red Sea during this deployment . 1958 – 1966 : Evaluation , training , Cuba , and the Mediterranean . " Norris " next served in Task Force Bravo , an experimental anti - submarine development group , until her next 6th Fleet duty from June – August 1960 . After a FRAM II conversion at Philadelphia from March to December 1961 , " Norris " had over a year of intensive Atlantic Fleet training operations , including a midshipman training cruise . She was reclassified a general purpose destroyer ( DD - 859 ) on 7 August 1962 and in October took station off Cuba during the quarantine provoked by the missile crisis . With the return of quiet , she was back in Newport in December to prepare for another Mediterranean deployment , which took place from 6 February – 7 July 1963 . In August , an experimental wire - guided torpedo system was installed by Boston Naval Shipyard , and " Norris " spent much of the next year testing and evaluating the new system . 1964 – 1966 : Polaris and Gemini X . Deployed again to the Mediterranean from 1 October 1964 to 18 January 1965 and 19 August – 7 December 1965 , " Norris " served in Polaris support operations as a missile tracking ship from 1 to 15 April 1966 , and in the primary recovery force for Gemini X from 12 to 23 July . Vietnam War service . Intensified operations in Vietnam called her with other ships of Destroyer Squadron 20 and they left Newport on 4 October for Panama and Yokosuka , arriving on 10 November . As they had in Korea , her guns supported troops ashore , first driving back Viet Cong attempting to overrun Vũng Tàu on 21 November . After four months on the gunline giving major service in the struggle to keep South Vietnam free , " Norris " completed a circumnavigation by returning via Suez to Newport , arriving on 25 April 1967 . Following east coast and Caribbean operations , " Norris " returned to the Mediterranean on 29 April 1968 for duty through the summer months . Returning to Newport in the fall , she deployed again from 9 May through December 1969 . Into 1970 she continued on rotation between the 2nd Fleet and 6th Fleet . Decommissioning and sale . " Norris " was decommissioned on 4 December 1970 , and struck from the Navy List on 1 February 1974 . Transferred to Turkey on 1 July 1974 , where the ship was renamed TCG " Kocatepe " . " Kocatepe " was sold as scrap to Hurdasan Anonim Sirketi in June 1994 . Awards . Norris received two battle star s for Korean War service .