USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413)

USS ''Samuel B. Roberts'' (DE-413) was a destroyer escort of the United States Navy which served in World War II, the first of three U.S. Navy ships to bear the name.

''Samuel B. Roberts'' was named after Coxswain Samuel Booker Roberts Jr., a Navy Cross recipient, who had been commended for voluntarily steering a Higgins boat towards enemy forces at Guadalcanal, in order to divert fire from evacuation efforts being undertaken by other friendly vessels. The ship was nicknamed the "Sammy B".

''Samuel B. Roberts'' was sunk in the Battle off Samar, in which a small force of U.S. warships prevented a superior Imperial Japanese Navy force from attacking the amphibious invasion fleet off the Philippine island of Leyte. The battle formed part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf of October 1944. The ship was part of Task Unit 77.4.3 ("Taffy 3"), escort carriers only protected by relatively few destroyers and destroyer escorts. Task Unit 77.4.3 was inadvertently left to fend off a fleet of heavily armed Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers off the island of Samar.

Steaming through incoming shells, ''Samuel B. Roberts'' scored one torpedo hit and several shell hits on larger enemy warships before she was sunk. After the battle, ''Samuel B. Roberts'' received the appellation "the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship." As of June 2022, she is the deepest shipwreck ever discovered. Her last known survivor died on 20 March 2022.

Construction and commissioning

''Samuel B. Roberts'' was laid down on 6 December 1943, by the Brown Shipbuilding Company of Houston, Texas. She was launched on 20 January 1944, sponsored by the namesake's mother, Mrs. Anna Roberts. She was commissioned on 28 April 1944, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland, USNR.

Service history

''Samuel B. Roberts'' had a shakedown cruise off Bermuda from 21 May to 19 June 1944. After spending time at the Boston Navy Yard, ''Roberts'' departed for Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 July. Later that day, the ship presumably struck a whale, which bent her starboard propeller. Repairs were completed by 11 July. ''Roberts'' departed Norfolk on 22 July, going through the Panama Canal on 27 July. She joined the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on 10 August.

She conducted training exercises around the Hawaiian Islands then steamed out on 21 August with a convoy reaching Eniwetok Atoll on 30 August. On 2 September, ''Roberts'' returned to Pearl Harbor, with a convoy arriving on 10 September. Following further training, the destroyer escort got underway on 21 September, escorted a convoy to Eniwetok, and arrived on 30 September.

''Roberts'' next proceeded to Manus Island in the Admiralty Islands of the Southwest Pacific and then joined Task Unit 77.4.3, nicknamed "Taffy 3". From there she steamed to Leyte Gulf area off the eastern Philippines. On arrival, she commenced operations with the Northern Air Support Group off the Island of Samar.

Battle off Samar

Shortly after dawn on 25 October, ''Samuel B. Roberts'' was protecting Taffy 3's escort carriers whose aircraft were supporting the Army assault. The warships were steaming off the eastern coast of Samar when the Japanese Center Force, a 23-ship task force under the command of Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, appeared on the horizon and opened fire. At 07:35, ''Roberts'' turned and headed toward the heavy cruiser .

The commanding officer, Copeland, announced "We're making a torpedo run. The outcome is doubtful, but we will do our duty." With smoke as cover, ''Roberts'' steamed to within of ''Chōkai'', coming under fire from the cruiser's forward guns.

''Roberts'' had moved so close that the Japanese large caliber guns could not depress low enough to hit her and when in torpedo range, ''Roberts'' launched three Mark 15 torpedoes, with one blowing off ''Chōkai''s stern. ''Roberts'' fought with the Japanese ships for a further hour, firing more than six hundred shells, and while maneuvering at very close range, hitting ''Chōkai''s superstructure with her 40 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.

At 08:51, the Japanese landed two hits, the second of which damaged the aft gun. This damaged gun suffered a breech explosion shortly thereafter which killed and wounded several crew members. With her remaining gun, ''Roberts'' set the bridge of the heavy cruiser on fire and destroyed the Number Three gun turret. ''Roberts'' was then hit by three shells from the battleship , which tore a hole long and wide in the port side of her aft engine room.

At 09:35, the order was given to abandon ship. She sank 30 minutes later, with 90 of the crew dying. The 120 survivors of the crew clung to three life rafts for 50 hours before being rescued.

During the battle, ''Samuel B. Roberts'', which was designed for , managed by raising pressure to and diverting all available steam to the ship's turbines.

''Samuel B. Roberts'' was stricken from the '' Naval Vessel Register'' on 27 November 1944.

The wreck was discovered around 22 June 2022, at a depth of , at that time the deepest wreck ever identified.

Awards and honors

''Samuel B. Roberts'' was included in the Presidential Unit Citation given to Task Unit 77.4.3 "for extraordinary heroism in action." ''Samuel B. Roberts'' earned one battle star for her World War II service.

Gunner's Mate Third Class Paul H. Carr was in charge of Gun Mount 52, the aft gun, which had fired nearly all of its 325 stored rounds in 35 minutes before a round exploded in the gun's breech. Carr was found dying at his station from a severe intestinal wound, begging for help to load the last round he was holding into the breech. For his actions, he was posthumously awarded a Silver Star. A guided-missile frigate, , was named for him.

The frigate was named for the ship's commanding officer.

Memorials

* At the U.S. Naval Academy, in Alumni Hall, a concourse is dedicated to Lieutenant Lloyd Garnett and his shipmates on ''Samuel B. Roberts'' who earned their ship the reputation as the "destroyer escort that fought like a battleship" in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
* Within Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery federal military cemetery in the city of San Diego, California, there is a large granite memorial dedicated in 1995 to ''Samuel B. Roberts'', and to the two U.S. destroyers also sunk in the action, and .

Successors

Two later U.S. warships have borne the name USS ''Samuel B. Roberts:''

* The second , was a , commissioned in 1946 and struck in 1970.
* The third , is an guided missile frigate, commissioned in 1986 and decommissioned on 22 May 2015.

Discovery of wreck

An exploration team led by Victor Vescovo and made up of personnel of Caladan Oceanic, Deep Ocean Search, and EYOS Expeditions discovered the wreck of ''Samuel B. Roberts'' in June 2022. The team found, identified, and surveyed the wreck during a series of six dives conducted from 17 to 24 June 2022.

The team determined that the wreck reached the seabed in one piece, although it hit the sea floor bow first and with enough force to cause some buckling, and observed that the ship's stern had separated from the rest of the hull by about . The team reported that it had found evidence of damage to the ship inflicted by a Japanese battleship shell, including ''Samuel B. Roberts''s fallen mast.

The wreck of ''Samuel B. Roberts'' lies at a depth of , making her the deepest known shipwreck and the deepest shipwreck ever identified by a crewed submersible. It exceeds the previous record of , set in March 2021 when Vescovo's team found and identified the wreck of the destroyer , which was sunk in the same battle.

Broken Stern Section of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, DE-413 lost at the Battle Off Samar.jpg, Broken stern section
Aft_Gun_Mount_-_GM3_Paul_H._Carr%27s_Position_on_the_Destroyer_Escort_Samuel_B._Roberts_DE-413.jpg, Aft 5" gun mount
Pilot_House_and_40mm_gun_mount_of_the_Samuel_B._Roberts_-_DE-413.jpg, Pilot House and 40mm gun mount
Hull number 413 of the USS Samuel B Roberts, Destroyer Escort, lost during the Battle off Samar.jpg, Pennant number 413 still visible
The bow of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, DE-413 lost during the Battle off Samar, 1944.jpg, Bow

Sunken ship protection

The wreck of ''Samuel B. Roberts'' is protected from unauthorized disturbance by the Sunken Military Craft Act. A permit for archaeological, historical, or educational purposes can be requested from the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Notes

References

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Further reading

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* based on Hornfischer's ''The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors''.

External links

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Captain Copeland's memoirsDE 413 timelineThe Samuel B. Roberts Survivors Association
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel B. Roberts
1944 ships
John C. Butler-class destroyer escorts
Maritime incidents in October 1944
Ships built in Houston
World War II frigates and destroyer escorts of the United States
World War II shipwrecks in the Philippine Sea
Shipwrecks of the Philippines