USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Samuel B. Roberts.

USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413)
Samuel B. Roberts at sea, c. October 1944
History
United States
NameUSS Samuel B. Roberts
NamesakeSamuel Booker Roberts Jr.
BuilderBrown Shipbuilding, Houston, Texas
Laid down6 December 1943
Launched20 January 1944
Commissioned28 April 1944
Honors and
awards		1 Battle Star; Presidential Unit Citation
Fate
  • Sunk during the Battle off Samar, 25 October 1944
  • Shipwreck found, 22 June 2022
General characteristics
Class and typeJohn C. Butler-class destroyer escort
Displacement1,350 long tons (1,372 t)
Length306 ft (93 m)
Beam36 ft 8 in (11.18 m)
Draft9 ft 5 in (2.87 m)
Installed power12,000 shp (8,900 kW)
Propulsion
Speed
  • Designed: 24 kn (28 mph; 44 km/h)
  • Achieved: 28.7 kn (33.0 mph; 53.2 km/h)
Range6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) @ 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement14 officers, 201 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems		SF multi-purpose radar[1]
Armament

USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) was a John C. Butler-class 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.[2] 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."[2] As of June 2022, she is the deepest shipwreck ever discovered.[3] Her last known survivor died on 20 March 2022.[4][5]

  1. ^ FTP 217 1943.
  2. ^ a b Wukovits 2013, p. 6.
  3. ^ "USS Samuel B Roberts: World's deepest shipwreck discovered". BBC News. Retrieved 24 June 2022.
  4. ^ "Last Known Survivor, Adred Lenoir, Has Passed". USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE 413) Survivors Association. 22 March 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Adred Lenoir Obituary (2022) | Clanton, AL". echovita.com. Retrieved 24 June 2022.