The naval ship named after Robert Tills was a Cannon-class destroyer escort of 1,240 tons capable of 21 knots with a crew of 15 officers and 200 men. It was launched 3 October 1943, sponsored by Till's sister Miss Helen Irene Tills. It was commissioned 8 Aug 1944.
Much of its active duty was on convoy duty in the Pacific where it escorted small aircraft carriers and went on hunt-kill missions.
You have to wonder if it ever put into Malalog Bay, where its namesake was killed.
After the war, it was sent to St. John's River in Florida for decommissioning, but reactivated in 1947, with the later-famous Lt. Cmdr Elmo Zumwalt, Jr, as its commander.
After decommissioning, it was recommissioned in 1961 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. A year later, decommissioned, then stricken from the registry in 1968 and used as a target ship and sunk off Virginia 3 April 1969.
The Story of a Man and a Ship. --Cooter
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