RPS Rajah Soliman (D-66), the flagship of the Philippine Navy at the time of its sinking during the height of a super-typhoon, was the former USS Bowers (DE-637), named after Ensign Robert Keith Bowers, a naval aviator who died in the Pearl Harbor attack. Launched and christened on October 31, 1943, it was commissioned into active service on January 27, 1944. It saw action in the Pacific naval battles where it was heavily damaged by a direct hit by a kamikaze pilot.
It was repaired and conver...
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