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During the bloody and vicious battle of Leyte Gulf many ships were sunk and damaged. One of the US losses was the USS Samuel B. Roberts DE-413, which was sunk on Oct. 25, 1944. The ship was named after Coxswain Samuel B. Roberts who was awarded the Navy Cross, posthumously, for his heroism at Guadalcanal. The small destroyer escort was sunk by gunfire from several Japanese warships after she had made a torpedo attack on the Japanese task force. In the fusillade of gunfire that sank the Sammy B, 89 of her crew, including Gunners Mate 3rd class Paul H. Carr, were killed. Paul Carr continued to fire at the Japanese even though the power and more importantly the air for his gun were cut off (compressed air is used to blow out hot embers and to cool the barrel). It was a hot barrel that ignited a shell in the breach, killing Carr and most of the rest of the gun crew. Carr however would not give up even though he was mortally injured and made one last attempt to reload the destroyed gun before dying on the deck. Carr was awarded the Navy Cross and had a ship named in his honor, the USS Carr FFG-52. The commanding officer Commander Robert W. Copeland was also awarded the Navy Cross and had a ship named in his honor. The USS Copeland FFG-25 was launched at Todd Pacific Shipyards in San Pedro, Ca on A second Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) was launched on Dec. 8, 1954 at Bath Iron Works with several of the survivors from the first Sammy B in the audience. She is still in service with the US Navy. Misfortune found this frigate on April 14, 1988 when she hit an Iranian mine in the Persian Gulf, only the quick action of her crew saved the ship from joining the DE-413 on the bottom. |
© 2006 Michael W. Pocock MaritimeQuest.com |
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USS Samuel B. Roberts DE-413 |