.gif)
USS Bowers (DE-637)
Encyclopedia
USS Bowers (DE-637/APD-40), a Buckley class
destroyer escort
of the United States Navy
, was named in honor of Ensign
Robert K. Bowers (1915-1941), who was killed in action aboard the battleship
USS California
during the Japan
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
on 7 December 1941.
Bowers was laid down on 28 May 1943 at San Francisco, California
, by the Bethlehem Steel Company; launched on 31 October, sponsored by Mrs. Eunice Bowers, the mother of Ens. Bowers; and commissioned on 27 January 1944, with Lieutenant Commander
Frederic W. Hawes in command.
training out of San Diego and then returned north to San Francisco for post-shakedown availability. She departed San Francisco Bay
on 31 March and headed for the Hawaiian Islands
. Bowers entered Pearl Harbor
on 6 April and, after several days on the gunnery range, joined a convoy
travelling via Kwajalein
in the Marshall Islands
to Manus
in the Admiralty Islands
. The ship reached Seeadler Harbor
on 26 April, but was sent out on the 30th to search for pilots and crews of two airplanes that had crashed offshore. She later returned to port with 17 survivors.
Bowers got underway on 5 May to escort the submarine
USS Seahorse
to her patrol area off Finschhafen
, New Guinea
. Then, off Cape Cretin on 17 May, she joined the screen for a nine-ship convoy and protected those vessels until they anchored safely in Langemak Bay
on the 24th. A week later, she commenced the first in a series of voyages escorting convoys between New Guinea, Wakde Island, and the Solomons.
The destroyer escort operated on this circuit for four months while Allied
forces consolidated their grip on the northern Solomons. On 5 August, while off the mouth of the Jaba River
on Bougainville Island
, she bombarded a small contingent of Japanese soldiers holding out against the Allied forces controlling the island. Allied aircraft reported that all of her target areas were well covered with fires. After destroying a floating mine
on 19 August, Bowers searched the area around Bougainville and Treasury Island for a submarine reported to be in the vicinity. Her duties in the northern Solomons ended at Biak
, New Guinea, where she joined a group of fleet oilers bound for the Philippines
to support the American landing on Leyte
.
The convoy left Humboldt Bay
on 12 October, and Bowers remained with the oilers until they entered Surigao Strait
on 23 October. During the Leyte
campaign, the oilers shuttled between Kossol Passage and Leyte Gulf
to fuel warships of the 7th Fleet, and Bowers saw the safely back and forth. Only one oiler suffered from enemy action while in Bowers care. USS Ashtabula
was hit by a Japanese torpedo bomber
while underway off Samar
on 24 October.
On 28 October, Bowers witnessed a plane miss the flight deck of escort carrier
USS Kadashan Bay
and raced to rescue the pilot. The fueling group stood into Kossol Roads on the last day of October; and, for the remainder of the year, Bowers escorted convoys of oilers and supply ships between Kossol Roads, Leyte GuIf, Humboldt Bay, Seeadler Harbor, and Ulithi
.
The destroyer escort stood out of Ulithi on 23 January 1945, bound for Seeadler Harbor, where she served as a part of an anti-submarine screen operating in the ocean approaches to the Caroline
and Marshall Islands
. On 28 March, the destroyer escort set sail with a convoy of troopships from Ulithi bound for Okinawa to take part in the invasion soon to begin there. Bowers entered the transport anchorage off the Hagushi
beaches at Okinawa during the morning of 1 April and, just after nightfall, fought off the first of many attacks by enemy planes.
On the 3rd, Bowers was assigned to a radar picket
station about 10 miles north of Kerama Retto
to provide the other ships around Okinawa with an early warning of approaching air attacks. That day, a single torpedo bomber attacked Bowers and USS Gendreau
, but the latter escort shot down the offending plane before it could do any damage. The next day, Bowers' gunners shot down another torpedo bomber. The ensuing nine days were quiet, although her crew frequently manned their battle stations because of approaching air contacts.
_2.jpg)
Bowers was then assigned to anti-submarine screen duty six miles north of Ie Shima. At dawn on 16 April, the destroyer escort shot down one attacking Japanese plane. Then at 09:30, two more planes came in, flying low and fast. Bowers maneuvered radically to avoid the planes as they split to attack the escort. The first came in dead ahead, but Bowers' guns brought it down. The second passed over the ship as her port guns came to bear. Despite the heavy gunfire, the kamikaze
regained altitude, turned, and came in from a 45-degree angle forward. It crashed into the warship's flying bridge, spraying high octane gasoline over the bridge and pilot house. The plane's bomb penetrated the pilot house and continued down through the ship for 20 feet before it exploded and sprayed the deck with fragments. Fire fighting parties brought the flames under control in about 45 minutes; but 37 men from the ship were killed, 11 were reported missing, and many of her 56 wounded died later.
Bowers slowly headed for the Hagushi
anchorage under her own power. With the aid of the repair ship USS Nestor
, Bowers was seaworthy again by 21 April. Three days later, she sailed in a convoy for Ulithi, whence she continued on via Pearl Harbor to the California coast. She arrived at San Diego on 24 May and was ordered on to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
for conversion to a Charles Lawrence-class high speed transport
. The warship entered the shipyard on 15 June and was redesignated APD-40 on 25 June 1945. Her conversion was not completed until after the war's end.
, where she languished in limbo for more than a year before being decommissioned on 10 February 1947.
Recommissioned at Green Cove Springs on 6 February 1951, Bowers joined the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet
. After five weeks at Guantanamo Bay for training, she embarked upon a series of short training exercises for marines, underwater demolition teams(UDT's), and midshipmen. The high-speed transport operated off the east coast until March 1955, although she made a six-week cruise to the West Indies and a five-month cruise to the Mediterranean.
In November 1954, Bowers entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard
for a three-month overhaul. Upon completion, she reported to the Commandant, 6th Naval District, at Charleston for duty as a naval reserve training ship. From March 1955 until December 1958 the warship embarked reservists for training cruises along the east coast and in the West Indies.
. Bowers was transferred to the Republic of the Philippines on 21 April 1961 under terms of the Mutual Security Act of 1954 and commissioned in the Philippine Navy
as Rajah Soliman. Her name was struck from the Navy list
on 1 May 1961.
In 1964, while she was moored in the Bataan
National Shipyard, a typhoon battered Rajah Soliman, capsizing her alongside the pier. The Navy helped the Philippines to raise the warship and tow her to Subic Bay
's Ship Repair Facility for final disposition. However, the warship was deemed unsalvageable, and her hulk was sold to Mitsubishi International Corporation
on 31 January 1966 for scrapping.
Buckley class destroyer escort
The Buckley class destroyer escorts were 102 destroyer escorts launched in the United States in 1943 - 1944. They served in World War II as convoy escorts and anti-submarine warfare ships. The lead ship was USS Buckley which was launched on 9 January 1943. The ships had General Electric steam...
destroyer escort
Destroyer escort
A destroyer escort is the classification for a smaller, lightly armed warship designed to be used to escort convoys of merchant marine ships, primarily of the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. It is employed primarily for anti-submarine warfare, but also provides some protection...
of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, was named in honor of Ensign
Ensign (rank)
Ensign is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank itself acquired the name....
Robert K. Bowers (1915-1941), who was killed in action aboard the battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
USS California
USS California (BB-44)
USS California , a Tennessee-class battleship, was the fifth ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 31st state. Beginning as the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, she served in the Pacific her entire career. She was sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor at her moorings in Battleship Row,...
during the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
on 7 December 1941.
Bowers was laid down on 28 May 1943 at San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, by the Bethlehem Steel Company; launched on 31 October, sponsored by Mrs. Eunice Bowers, the mother of Ens. Bowers; and commissioned on 27 January 1944, with Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Frederic W. Hawes in command.
World War II
From 15 February to 15 March 1944, the new destroyer escort carried out shakedownShakedown (testing)
A shakedown is a period of testing or a trial journey undergone by a ship, aircraft or other craft and its crew before being declared operational. Statistically, a proportion of the components will fail after a relatively short period of use, and those that survive this period can be expected to...
training out of San Diego and then returned north to San Francisco for post-shakedown availability. She departed San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
on 31 March and headed for the Hawaiian Islands
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, numerous smaller islets, and undersea seamounts in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some 1,500 miles from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kure Atoll...
. Bowers entered Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
on 6 April and, after several days on the gunnery range, joined a convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
travelling via Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
to Manus
Manus Island
Manus Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and is the largest island of the Admiralty Islands. It is the fifth largest island in Papua New Guinea with an area of 2,100 km², measuring around 100 km × 30 km. According to the 2000 census, Manus Island had a...
in the Admiralty Islands
Admiralty Islands
The Admiralty Islands are a group of eighteen islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the south Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-covered islands form part of Manus Province, the smallest and...
. The ship reached Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor
Seeadler Harbor, also known as Port Seeadler, is located on Manus Island, Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and played an important role in World War II...
on 26 April, but was sent out on the 30th to search for pilots and crews of two airplanes that had crashed offshore. She later returned to port with 17 survivors.
Bowers got underway on 5 May to escort the submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
USS Seahorse
USS Seahorse (SS-304)
USS Seahorse , a Balao-class submarine, was the first submarine and second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seahorse, a small fish whose head and the fore part of its body suggest the head and neck of a horse....
to her patrol area off Finschhafen
Finschhafen
Finschhafen is a district on the northeast coast of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea. It is named after the port of the same name.The port was discovered in 1884 by the German researcher Otto Finsch. In 1885 the German colony of German New Guinea created a town on the site and named it...
, New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
. Then, off Cape Cretin on 17 May, she joined the screen for a nine-ship convoy and protected those vessels until they anchored safely in Langemak Bay
Langemak Bay
Langemak Bay is a bay north of Finschhafen, on the north east coast of Papua New Guinea. Langemak Bay saw extensive naval operations in World War II, including a landing beach at the western end of the bay for the embarkation of the 2/24th Australian Infantry Battalion....
on the 24th. A week later, she commenced the first in a series of voyages escorting convoys between New Guinea, Wakde Island, and the Solomons.
The destroyer escort operated on this circuit for four months while Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
forces consolidated their grip on the northern Solomons. On 5 August, while off the mouth of the Jaba River
Jaba River
Jaba River is a river in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. It empties to Empress Augusta Bay at . It was polluted by waste from the Panguna copper mine. Pollution of the environment was one of the causes of armed conflict on the island and struggle of local people for independence.- External links :*...
on Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
, she bombarded a small contingent of Japanese soldiers holding out against the Allied forces controlling the island. Allied aircraft reported that all of her target areas were well covered with fires. After destroying a floating mine
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
on 19 August, Bowers searched the area around Bougainville and Treasury Island for a submarine reported to be in the vicinity. Her duties in the northern Solomons ended at Biak
Biak
Biak features a tropical rainforest climate with nearly identical temperatures throughout the course of the year. The average annual temperature in the city is 27 degrees celsius, which is also generally the average temperature of each day in Biak...
, New Guinea, where she joined a group of fleet oilers bound for the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to support the American landing on Leyte
Battle of Leyte
The Battle of Leyte in the Pacific campaign of World War II was the invasion and conquest of the island of Leyte in the Philippines by American and Filipino guerrilla forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who fought against the Imperial Japanese Army in the Philippines led by...
.
The convoy left Humboldt Bay
Teluk Yos Sudarso
Yos Sudarso Bay also known earlier as Humboldt Bay is a small bay in Indonesia. It is on the north coast of New Guinea, about 50 kilometers west of the border between Indonesia's province of Papua and the country of Papua New Guinea...
on 12 October, and Bowers remained with the oilers until they entered Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait
Surigao Strait is a body of water in the Philippines located between the islands of Mindanao and Leyte. This strait connects the Bohol Sea with Leyte Gulf and is regularly crossed by ferries that transport goods and people between Visayas and Mindanao...
on 23 October. During the Leyte
Leyte
Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Tacloban City and occupies the northern three-quarters of the Leyte Island. Leyte is located west of Samar Island, north of Southern Leyte and south of Biliran...
campaign, the oilers shuttled between Kossol Passage and Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf
Leyte Gulf is a body of water immediately east of the island of Leyte in the Philippines, adjoining the Philippine Sea of the Pacific Ocean, at . The Gulf is bounded on the north by the island of Samar, which is separated from Leyte on the west by the narrow San Juanico Strait, and on the south by...
to fuel warships of the 7th Fleet, and Bowers saw the safely back and forth. Only one oiler suffered from enemy action while in Bowers care. USS Ashtabula
USS Ashtabula (AO-51)
USS Ashtabula was a Cimarron-class fleet oiler of the United States Navy in service from 1943 to 1991. She survived three wars and was awarded eight battle stars for World War II service, four battle stars for Korean War service, and eight campaign stars for Vietnam War service...
was hit by a Japanese torpedo bomber
Torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a bomber aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes which could also carry out conventional bombings. Torpedo bombers existed almost exclusively prior to and during World War II when they were an important element in many famous battles, notably the...
while underway off Samar
Samar
Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland...
on 24 October.
On 28 October, Bowers witnessed a plane miss the flight deck of escort carrier
Escort aircraft carrier
The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the USN or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slow type of aircraft carrier used by the British Royal Navy , the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, and the...
USS Kadashan Bay
USS Kadashan Bay (CVE-76)
USS Kadashan Bay was an Casablanca class escort carrier of the United States Navy. She is named for Kadashan Bay Alaska.Kadashan Bay was launched 11 December 1943 by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company in Vancouver, Washington, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Miss Audrey Ackerman...
and raced to rescue the pilot. The fueling group stood into Kossol Roads on the last day of October; and, for the remainder of the year, Bowers escorted convoys of oilers and supply ships between Kossol Roads, Leyte GuIf, Humboldt Bay, Seeadler Harbor, and Ulithi
Ulithi
Ulithi is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about 191 km east of Yap. It consists of 40 islets totalling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest in the world. It is administered by the state of Yap in the Federated States of...
.
The destroyer escort stood out of Ulithi on 23 January 1945, bound for Seeadler Harbor, where she served as a part of an anti-submarine screen operating in the ocean approaches to the Caroline
Caroline Islands
The Caroline Islands are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia in the eastern part of the group, and Palau at the extreme western end...
and Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
. On 28 March, the destroyer escort set sail with a convoy of troopships from Ulithi bound for Okinawa to take part in the invasion soon to begin there. Bowers entered the transport anchorage off the Hagushi
Hagushi
Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...
beaches at Okinawa during the morning of 1 April and, just after nightfall, fought off the first of many attacks by enemy planes.
On the 3rd, Bowers was assigned to a radar picket
Radar picket
A radar picket is a radar-equipped ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from surprise attack. Often several detached radar units encircle a force to provide increased cover in all directions.-World War II:Radar picket ships...
station about 10 miles north of Kerama Retto
Kerama Retto
The are a group of 22 islands located southwest of Okinawa Island in Japan. Four of the islands are inhabited:,., and. The islands are within Shimajiri District. The Kerama-shotō coral reef is a Ramsar Site....
to provide the other ships around Okinawa with an early warning of approaching air attacks. That day, a single torpedo bomber attacked Bowers and USS Gendreau
USS Gendreau (DE-639)
USS Gendreau was a in the United States Navy. She was commissioned on 17 March 1944 and decommissioned on 13 March 1948. She served throughout the Pacific during World War II....
, but the latter escort shot down the offending plane before it could do any damage. The next day, Bowers' gunners shot down another torpedo bomber. The ensuing nine days were quiet, although her crew frequently manned their battle stations because of approaching air contacts.
Kamikaze
The were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible....
regained altitude, turned, and came in from a 45-degree angle forward. It crashed into the warship's flying bridge, spraying high octane gasoline over the bridge and pilot house. The plane's bomb penetrated the pilot house and continued down through the ship for 20 feet before it exploded and sprayed the deck with fragments. Fire fighting parties brought the flames under control in about 45 minutes; but 37 men from the ship were killed, 11 were reported missing, and many of her 56 wounded died later.
Bowers slowly headed for the Hagushi
Hagushi
Hagushi bay was the primary unloading point for American supplies during the invasion of Okinawa during World War II. The bay, at the mouth of the Bishi River , was the dividing line between the First and Sixth US Marine divisions, which landed on the Hagushi beaches to the north, and the Seventh...
anchorage under her own power. With the aid of the repair ship USS Nestor
USS Nestor (ARB-6)
USS Nestor was one of twelve Aristaeus-class battle damage repair ships built for the United States Navy during World War II. Named for Nestor , she was the only U.S...
, Bowers was seaworthy again by 21 April. Three days later, she sailed in a convoy for Ulithi, whence she continued on via Pearl Harbor to the California coast. She arrived at San Diego on 24 May and was ordered on to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
The Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...
for conversion to a Charles Lawrence-class high speed transport
High speed transport
High Speed Transports were converted destroyers and destroyer escorts used to support amphibious operations in World War II and afterward. They received the US Hull classification symbol APD; "AP" for transport and "D" for destroyer....
. The warship entered the shipyard on 15 June and was redesignated APD-40 on 25 June 1945. Her conversion was not completed until after the war's end.
After the war
After her conversion was completed, the new high speed transport got underway on 19 September for training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She returned to Philadelphia on 25 October for the Navy Day celebration and then steamed to Green Cove Springs, FloridaGreen Cove Springs, Florida
Green Cove Springs is a city in Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,908. It is the county seat of Clay County....
, where she languished in limbo for more than a year before being decommissioned on 10 February 1947.
Recommissioned at Green Cove Springs on 6 February 1951, Bowers joined the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet
U.S. Atlantic Fleet
The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...
. After five weeks at Guantanamo Bay for training, she embarked upon a series of short training exercises for marines, underwater demolition teams(UDT's), and midshipmen. The high-speed transport operated off the east coast until March 1955, although she made a six-week cruise to the West Indies and a five-month cruise to the Mediterranean.
In November 1954, Bowers entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard
Charleston Naval Shipyard
Charleston Naval Shipyard was a U.S. Navy ship building and repair facility located along the west bank of the Cooper River, in North Charleston, South Carolina and part of Naval Base Charleston...
for a three-month overhaul. Upon completion, she reported to the Commandant, 6th Naval District, at Charleston for duty as a naval reserve training ship. From March 1955 until December 1958 the warship embarked reservists for training cruises along the east coast and in the West Indies.
Philippine service
The high-speed transport was decommissioned again on 18 December 1958 and berthed with the reserve fleet at Orange, TexasOrange, Texas
Orange is a city in Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 18,643. It is the county seat of Orange County, and is the easternmost city in Texas. Located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, it is part of the Beaumont–Port Arthur...
. Bowers was transferred to the Republic of the Philippines on 21 April 1961 under terms of the Mutual Security Act of 1954 and commissioned in the Philippine Navy
Philippine Navy
The Philippine Navy is the naval arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines . Its official name in Filipino is Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas, literally, "Sea Force of the Philippines"....
as Rajah Soliman. Her name was struck from the Navy list
Navy List
A Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval authorities of a country....
on 1 May 1961.
In 1964, while she was moored in the Bataan
Bataan
Bataan is a province of the Philippines occupying the whole of the Bataan Peninsula on Luzon. The province is part of the Central Luzon region. The capital of Bataan is Balanga City and it is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north...
National Shipyard, a typhoon battered Rajah Soliman, capsizing her alongside the pier. The Navy helped the Philippines to raise the warship and tow her to Subic Bay
Subic Bay
Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...
's Ship Repair Facility for final disposition. However, the warship was deemed unsalvageable, and her hulk was sold to Mitsubishi International Corporation
Mitsubishi
The Mitsubishi Group , Mitsubishi Group of Companies, or Mitsubishi Companies is a Japanese multinational conglomerate company that consists of a range of autonomous businesses which share the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy...
on 31 January 1966 for scrapping.