USS Roe, a 1570-ton Sims class destroyer, was built by the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina. Commissioned in early January 1940, she operated in the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific until the summer of 1941. She then began escort and patrol duties in the north Atlantic as the Navy conducted an undeclared war against German submarines. After the United States formally entered the Second World War in December 1941, Roe patrolled between the U.S. and Bermuda, escorted convoys to Iceland and the British Isles, and operated in the vicinity of Trinidad and Brazil.
Roe participated in the invasion of Morocco in November 1942, screening and guiding amphibious shipping and providing gunfire support to the landings. In July 1943, following several more months of convoy escort service on the Caribbean and trans-Atlantic routes, she took part in Allied landings on Sicily. While maneuvering off that island on the night of 9-10 July, Roe collided with the destroyer Swanson. Though both ships were seriously damaged, on the following day they successfully opposed a German bomber attack before withdrawing to Algeria for repairs.
During the fall and early winter of 1943 Roe resumed escorting convoys between the U.S. and North Africa. She was sent to the Pacific early in 1944 and, from March until mid-July, conducted combat operations in the Admiralty Islands along the northern coast of New Guinea. The destroyer then moved into the central Pacific, where she served on aircraft rescue, patrol, picket and escort service for nearly a year. In December 1944 and January 1945 Roe participated in bombardments of Iwo Jima. On 24 December, during one of these raids, she helped sink the Japanese fast transport T-8 and landing ship T-157.
Roe returned to the U.S. West Coast for overhaul in July 1945. Japan surrendered while she was in the shipyard and it was decided to inactivate her rather than completing work on what was, by that time, a outdated destroyer. USS Roe decommissioned in late October 1945 and was stricken from the list of Navy ships a few weeks later. She was sold for scrapping in August 1947.
USS Roe was named in honor of Rear Admiral Francis A. Roe (1823-1901).
This page features all the views we have concerning USS Roe (DD-418), 1940-1947.
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.
In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Roe (DD-418). The following list features two 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 Roe (DD-418) photographed on 4 June 1942. Starboard broadside surface view. The ship is wearing the mottled pattern of Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage.
USS Roe (DD-418) en route to rescue survivors of a B-29 that had crashed at sea, December 1944. Taken from the air by the crew of a PBM flying boat. Port broadside aerial view, showing Roe approaching the survivors' life raft.
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