USS Solar (DE-221) (pronounced sō-lär), a of the United States Navy, was named in honor of Boatswain's Mate First Class Adolfo Solar (1900–1941), who was killed in action during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Solar was laid down on 22 February 1943, by the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on 29 May 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Regina Solar; and commissioned at Philadelphia on 15 February 1944. The ship was destroyed by an accidental explosion on 30 April 1946. Naming The ship was named after Adolfo Solar, who was born on 8 May 1900 in San Antonio, Tex. On 1 June 1922, he enlisted in the Navy as a seaman second class at Houston, Texas, and he served four consecutive enlistments on the battleship before signing up for a fifth time and serving aboard the battleship . Boatswain's Mate First Class Solar was on board the Nevada on the morning of 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He was credited with "... the early opening of fire by antiaircraft battery of the USS Nevada prior to the arrival of the battery officers at their stations, and thereafter controlling his gun in an outstanding manner until killed by shell fragments." He was posthumously commended by the Secretary of the Navy. Service history World War II Solar completed post-commissioning trials in the Delaware River and shakedown training in the Bermuda area; then returned to Philadelphia at the beginning of April 1944. After post-shakedown availability, she headed for Casco Bay, Maine, for more training. On 25 April, Solar put to sea from New York City with Task Group 27.1 in the screen of a Casablanca-bound convoy. The convoy made Casablanca on 4 May; and, three days later Solar headed back toward the United States. She arrived in New York on 16 May. Solar was next assigned to Task Force 64, and spent the next six months escorting three convoys from the United States to the Mediterranean and back. On 16 December 1944, the destroyer escort was assigned to the Commander, Operational Training Command, Atlantic Fleet (COTCLANT), to help train destroyer and destroyer-escort crews. On 2 February 1945, she resumed Atlantic convoy escort duty as an element of TG 60.9. On her first voyage of this new assignment, Solar encountered her first combat, though she herself was unable to engage the enemy submarines. Her convoy, UGS-72, lost two