USS Gilmore ( DE - 18 ) USS " Gilmore " ( DE - 18 ) was an " Evarts " - class short - hull destroyer escort in the service of the United States Navy , named after Commander Walter William Gilmore , Supply Corps , killed on 8 May 1942 while serving as the supply officer of the in the Battle of Coral Sea . Originally allocated to the United Kingdom under terms of the Lend - Lease Program the ship was launched as HMS " Halder " ( BDE - 18 ) on 22 October 1942 by Mare Island Naval Shipyard , California ; sponsored by Mrs . Otis J . Boyer , wife of a Quarterman Rigger of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard . She was reallocated back to the United States Navy and renamed USS " Gilmore " on 19 February 1943 , and commissioned on 17 April 1943 , with Lt . Cmdr . S . C . Small in command . Service history . Northern Pacific , 1943 – 1944 . " Gilmore " conducted her initial training in San Diego , California . After this initial training period she escorted troopships from San Francisco , California to Pearl Harbor from 28 June to 8 July 1943 . Her next mission would be escorting the submarine tender to Attu Island on 20 September from San Francisco . Sailing as part of the 14 Destroyer Escort Division Pacific , she then served as the escort ship for the U . S . Coast and Geodetic Survey ship from 18 to 29 October . For the next three months , " Gilmore " would serve as an escort between various Alaskan ports , until 20 January 1944 . She then participated in air - sea rescue operations off the coast of Attu Island for the 4th Fleet Air Wing until 1 February . Three days later , " Gilmore " left Attu for Adak escorting merchant ships , and then escorted and SS " Henry Failing " to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton , Washington , arriving on 16 February 1944 . She returned to Dutch Harbor on 1 March and completed nine escort missions between that port and Attu by 20 April 1944 . She departed Dutch Harbor on 23 April to assist in the escort of merchantmen bound for Kodiak . Near midnight of 25 April her radar picked up a surfaced submarine which dived . " Gilmore " gained underwater sound contact , made two depth charge attacks , then regained contact at 0010 , 26 April . She exploded six depth charges near the submarine and five minutes later six others were dropped directly over the target . A violent underwater explosion caused minor damage in the after motor room of " Gilmore " as the 1 , 630 - ton Japanese " Kaidai " class submarine " I - 180 " settled to the bottom in latitude 50° 10 ' North ; longitude 155°40 ' West . " Gilmore " arrived at Kodiak on 29 April ; returned to Dutch Harbor with Army transport " Otsego " on 9 May , and made five escort voyages between that port and Adak before serving on air - sea rescue station for pilots of Fleet Air Wing Four ( 1 – 4 July 1944 ) . Fourteen more escort missions for troop transports were made to Kodiak , Adak , Attu , Kiska and Amchitka by 8 September 1944 , followed by plane guard patrol west of Attu for Fleet Air Wing Four until 1 October . She then resumed escort missions between various Alaskan and Aleutian ports . Western Pacific , 1945 . " Gilmore " departed Dutch Harbor on 13 January 1945 for overhaul in the Mare Island Naval Shipyard until 4 March , then sailed for Hawaii . She entered Pearl Harbor on 10 March , became flagship of Escort Division 14 , and departed Pearl Harbor on 20 March as screen commander for a troopship convoy escorted safely to Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls on 29 March . After guarding escort aircraft carrier to Apra Harbor , Guam , she touched at Saipan on 13 April to act as station guide for a task element of tank landing ships that arrived off Iwo Jima on the 18th . After joining in the escort of two merchantmen to Guam , she departed Saipan on 1 May 1945 with another convoy of amphibious assault ships that arrived off Iwo Jima on the 4th . Assigned to rescue station , she closed within 12 miles of Mount Suribachi that afternoon to rescue an Army aviator from his crashed plane . On the 10th she sent her medical officer to for treatment of injured airmen rescued by that submarine . She escorted " Jallao " into Tanapag Harbor , Saipan , on 12 May and was relieved as division flagship by on 20 July 1945 . " Gilmore " made an escort voyage for troopships to Okinawa and return ( 22 July - 7 August 1945 ) , then joined an anti - submarine warfare task group built around escort carrier for an unrewarding search for enemy submarines in waters extending some 250 miles southwest of Guam . She returned to Saipan from this mission on 17 August 1945 , made two escort voyages for troop convoys to Okinawa and return by 11 September , proceeded off Marcus Island for patrol ( 13 – 28 September ) , thence to Apra Harbor , Guam . " Gilmore " sailed for home on 12 October via Pearl Harbor to San Pedro , California , arriving on 27 October 1945 . " Gilmore " was decommissioned on 29 December 1945 and remained in the San Diego Group , U . S . Pacific Reserve Fleet , until sold for scrapping on 1 February 1947 .