USS Riley (DE-579) was a Rudderow-class destroyer escort in the United States Navy during World War II. She later transferred to the Republic of China Navy and served as Tai Yuan (DE-27). The ship was finally scrapped in 1996. Namesake Paul James Riley was born on 12 April 1913 at Hot Springs, Arkansas. He enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve on 12 December 1931 and was appointed midshipman on 26 June 1933. Commissioned Ensign 4 years later, he was designated naval aviator on 22 May 1940 and on 28 July he reported for duty with Torpedo Squadron 6 on board . Promoted to Lieutenant on 6 January 1942, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "heroic conduct in aerial combat during the operations of U.S. forces against the Marshall Islands", on 1 February 1942. During the Battle of Midway on 4 June he was killed as he "pressed home his attack" against the Japanese Fleet "in the face of a terrific barrage of antiaircraft fire." He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. Construction and service World War II Riley was laid down 20 October 1943 by Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc., Hingham, Massachusetts; launched 29 December 1943; sponsored by Miss Mildred Laverne Riley, sister of ship's namesake. Riley was commissioned 13 March 1944. Following shakedown exercises off Bermuda, Riley joined CortDiv 67 at Norfolk, Virginia, where until 6 June she trained prospective destroyer escort crews. On 7 June she sailed for New York whence she escorted a convoy back to Norfolk where she readied for her first transatlantic run. Departing Hampton Roads 23 June with convoy UGS-46, she crossed into the Mediterranean Sea on 10 July, fought off a German aerial attack on the 12th, and arrived off Bizerte on the 13th. She returned to the United States 9 August, conducted sonar tests in the New London area until the 29th, then, on the 30th, sailed eastward to escort another Bizerte bound convoy. Back in New York 17 October, she got underway, with her division, for the Pacific Theater 3 November. Steaming via Panama, she reached Bora-Bora on the 25th and continued on to Hollandia, anchoring in Humboldt Bay 11 December. Between 19 December and 2 January 1945, Riley completed a round-trip escort run to Leyte, then on the 3rd got underway to escort the Lingayen Support Group from New Guinea to Luzon. A unit of Task Group 78.9, she