USS Rowan, a 1500-ton Benham class destroyer built at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, was placed in commission in September 1939. She made a shakedown cruise to the Caribbean and in May 1940 went to the Pacific for operational service. A year later, with the war in Europe increasingly threatening U.S. national security, Rowan was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet and spent most of the rest of 1941 patrolling between the Canadian east coast and the Caribbean Sea. During the year's final two months, she escorted a troop convoy to and from Capetown, South Africa.
The United States formally entered the Second World War while Rowan was on that mission. Much of the next ten months saw her employed on convoy escort duty in the north Atlantic and Caribbean. During the summer of 1942 the destroyer covered the shipping route between Iceland and northern Russia. She actively engaged with German aircraft during their attacks on the ill-fated convoy PQ-17, shooting down one enemy bomber. Rowan's next major assignment was the invasion of French North Africa in November. She operated off Morocco during that operation, then began escorting convoys from the U.S. to Casablanca, Morocco.
In May and June 1943 Rowan carried out anti-submarine patrols and escorted shipping in the western Mediterranean. She participated in the Sicily landings in July and, in September, took part in the invasion of the Italian mainland at Salerno. On the night of 10-11 September 1943, while escorting empty ships out of the landing area, Rowan engaged attacking German motor torpedo boats. She was hit by a torpedo and sank quickly, with the loss of over two-hundred of her crew members.
USS Rowan was named in honor of Vice Admiral Stephen C. Rowan (1808-1890), whose long Navy career included service in the Mexican War and the Civil War, and command of the Asiatic Squadron in 1867-1870.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Rowan (DD-405).
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 103502 USS Rowan (DD-405) Underway at sea, circa 1939-1940. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 555 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 103503 USS Rowan (DD-405) Underway at sea, 16 August 1940. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 103504 USS Rowan (DD-405) Receiving provisions via "high-line" from USS Augusta (CA-31) while operating at sea, 4 December 1942. Collection of Vice Admiral Robert C. Giffen, USN. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 570 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-54604 USS Rowan (DD-405) One of the ship's survivors cleans up while awaiting medical attention on board a rescue ship. Rowan was torpedoed and sunk on 11 September 1943, during an engagement with German motor torpedo boats while she was escorting shipping from the Salerno invasion area to Oran, Algeria. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 75KB; 590 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-23833 USS Rowan (DD-405) Ship's Historical Data Plate, photographed at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 24 November 1939. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Rowan (DD-405). The following list features some of these images:
The images listed below are NOT in
the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".
USS Rowan (DD-405) passes orders to transports during the first days of the U.S. campaign in North Africa, November 1942. Starboard bow surface view, seen from on board a transport, some of whose structure and people are visible in the foreground. Other ships are in the distance. The sun is behind Rowan, so her starboard side is rather dark. Same subject as 80-G-19813, except that only Rowan's forward portion is visible, just aft of her forward superstructure to her bow. The view also shows her rather more toward the side.
Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center. The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions". |
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 28 February 2006