the raid, and sank two merchantmen and Tillmans sister ship . In the first wave of the attack, a Dornier 217 singled out Tillman as the target of her glide bomb. The radio-controlled missile came in at a terrific speed, but Tillmans machine guns splashed it in a violent explosion only off the destroyer's port bow. Soon after, a second glide bomb intended for Tillmans destruction splashed and exploded, again only away, as Tillman shot down its launching plane. A third glide bomb splashed off the ship's starboard beam as its parent craft turned back in the face of Tillmans concerted fire. During this first stage of the attack, Tillman maneuvered constantly and rapidly to evade the glide bombs. Her own safety temporarily secured, Tillman then turned her guns on planes attacking the convoy and splashed another attacker. Soon, the final and fiercest phase of the attack began as five German planes attacked Tillman. As her main battery engaged the raiders, Tillman turned left full rudder to evade torpedoes, two of which passed nearly parallel to the ship at distances of . Moments later, as Tillman swung to port to regain her station, a heavy explosion shook the ship. This detonation, thought to have been caused by a torpedo exploding in the destroyer's wake, caused her no serious damage, and she turned to the task of rescuing survivors from the sinking merchant freighter SS Santa Elena. She then proceeded to Philippeville to disembark the survivors. 1944 – 1946 During December 1943 and throughout 1944, Tillman escorted convoys between ports in the United States, the Mediterranean, and the United Kingdom. Occasionally, she varied this duty with overhaul at New York or exercises off New England. In the first three months of 1945, Tillman participated in exercises in the Caribbean and off the United States East Coast before departing on 28 March 1945 from the Delaware Bay and steaming via the Panama Canal Zone and San Diego, California, for Hawaii. Following her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 21 April, she took part in exercises in Hawaiian waters, then departed the area on 1 May 1945. Until September 1945, Tillman performed life guard and antisubmarine picket duties, based at Guam and Ulithi Atoll. On 6 September 1945 at Tamil Harbor, the commanding officer of the Imperial Japanese Army garrison on Yap Island formally surrendered to the American atoll commander from Ulithi on board