USS Hickox (DD-673) was a of the United States Navy, named for Lieutenant Commander Ralph Hickox (1903–1942). Hickox was launched 4 July 1943 by Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, N.J.; sponsored by Mrs. Ralph Hickox, wife of the late Commander Hickox; and commissioned 10 September 1943. Namesake Ralph Hickox was born in Washington, D.C. on 29 August 1903. Enlisting in the United States Marine Corps on 23 September 1921, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy on 18 July 1923 and commissioned Ensign on 2 June 1927. Hickox served in a variety of ships and stations and was finally appointed commanding officer of the destroyer on 3 October 1941. He had been commissioned Lieutenant Commander on 1 July, of that year. Truxtun went aground in heavy seas off St. Lawrence, Newfoundland in Placentia Bay on 18 February 1942, Hickox remained on the bridge directing rescue operations and was instrumental in effecting the rescue of many of the members of his crew. However, Hickox was swept from the bridge by the pounding seas and lost. World War II After shakedown in the Caribbean, Hickox departed Norfolk, Virginia 21 November and reported to Pearl Harbor 12 December. Joining Admiral Marc Mitscher's Fast Carrier Task Force (then U.S. Fifth Fleet's TF 58, later U.S. Third Fleet's TF 38) as part of the destroyer screen, Hickox sailed 16 January 1944 to participate in the first "neutralization" raids against Marshall Islands airfields. In the next few months she helped shepherd the powerful aircraft carriers through raids on Truk, the Marshalls, and New Guinea. On 1 April Hickox teamed up with the destroyer to destroy two small Japanese cargo vessels off Woleai Island. She chalked up another enemy ship, a small picket boat, 13 June in the Marianas. After guarding the carriers as their planes launched initial strikes on both Wake Island and Saipan in early June, Hickox accompanied other units of the task force in patrolling western Marianas waters in anticipation of engagement with a large enemy surface force. These anticipations were met 19 June as the Battle of the Philippine Sea was joined. In this 2-day air struggle, the Japanese fleet lost 395 (92%) of its carrier planes, 31 (72%) of its float planes, and an estimated 50 land-based planes. During the famed "Marianas Turkey Shoot", as the Navy fondly termed it, Hickox was in on the kill of at least