USS Raby (DE/DEC-698) was a for the United States Navy. She was named for Rear Admiral James Joseph Raby (1874–1934). Raby was laid down on 7 June 1943 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan, Rear Admiral Raby's home town. The ship was named Raby on 22 June 1943, and launched on 4 September 1943, sponsored by Mrs. James Joseph Raby, the Admiral's widow. She was commissioned on 7 December 1943 at New Orleans, Louisiana. Service history World War II, 1943–1945 After shakedown off Bermuda, Raby sailed from Norfolk, Virginia on 10 February 1944 via the Panama Canal for Nouméa, arriving on 11 March. She then escorted fast convoys from Guadalcanal as far as Manus Island, in the Admiralties. Raby was engaged in hunter-killer activities in the Solomons during the early spring. On 16 May, she sailed from Florida Island, in the Solomons, in a hunter-killer group with and on what was to become one of the most successful anti-submarine actions in the Pacific war. During this patrol from 19 to 31 May, the three-ship team sank six Japanese submarines (, , , , , and ) in waters north of the Bismarck Archipelago. Raby resumed convoy escort missions at the end of June, remaining in the Solomons until 26 October when she got underway for Manus for similar duty in the Admiralties. In December, she shifted to Ulithi. On the evening of 21 January 1945, a plane spotted a Japanese submarine on the surface 18 miles due west of Ulithi. The alarm brought a hunter killer team composed of DEs Raby, and steaming quickly from Uithi. The three ships conducted an expanding search that lasted all day and night on the 22nd. Early in the morning of the 23rd, radar contact was made. After the submarine submerged, sonar contact was established. Several attempts with hedgehog mortars resulted in the destruction of Japanese submarine . At the end of January, Raby proceeded to Guam where she served as escort and patrol ship into June. Between 22 June and 31 August, she completed two slow tows to Okinawa, and on 13 September, she steamed for Pearl Harbor and the United States. Post-war activities, 1946–1953 Remaining in California waters through the winter, she underwent a conversion where the three-inch guns were replaced by two single 5-inch guns and a hedgehog anti-submarine launcher. She reported to the 7th Fleet for duty in