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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 103219:  USS Robinson steaming into San Diego Harbor, circa mid-1953

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Robinson (DD-562), 1944-1982

USS Robinson, a 2050-ton Fletcher class destroyer, was built at Seattle, Washington. Commissioned at the end of January 1944, she entered combat during the invasion of Saipan in June, performing gunfire support missions as well as protecting other ships from submarine and air threats. During July, September and October she carried out similar functions during landings on Tinian, Peleliu and Leyte. Robinson was present during the Battle of Surigao Strait on the night of 24-25 October, firing torpedoes at the Japanese fleet during what would be the World's last battleship-to-battleship action.

Robinson remained active in the Philippines area during the rest of 1944 and the first part of 1945, taking part in amphibious operations at Mindoro in December 1944, Lingayen Gulf in January 1945, and Mindanao and Basilan in March and April. She also escorted shipping, fought off attacking Japanese aircraft and survived a close encounter with an enemy suicide attack boat during this time. In May and June Robinson participated in the push into the East Indies, providing gunfire support for landings on Tarakan Island and Borneo. The destroyer ended World War II with mid-August radar picket duty off the U.S. advanced base at Ulithi, in the Caroline Islands.

Following Japan's surrender Robinson covered minesweeping operations in Chinese waters. This work continued until December 1945, when she began the long voyage home across the Pacific. After a brief stop at San Diego, she continued on to the East Coast, via the Panama Canal, and remained there until decommissioned at Charleston, South Carolina, in June 1946.

The Korean War brought Robinson back into the active fleet. Recommissioning early in August 1951, she served in the Atlantic and Carribbean over the next two years, then deployed to the western Pacific during the last half of 1953. Her return to the East Coast by way of the Suez Canal completed the ship's only circumnavigation of the Globe. Over the remainder of the decade Robinson regularly made overseas deployments, visiting the Mediterranean and Northern Europe on several occasions, and in 1957 steaming into the Indian Ocean to operate in the Persian Gulf region. She began Naval Reserve training duty in April 1959 and was thereafter mainly based at Charleston, South Carolina. USS Robinson was placed out of commission in June 1964 and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1974 and sunk as a target off Puerto Rico on 13 April 1982.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Robinson (DD-562).


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 103220

USS Robinson
(DD-562)

Off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, 8 April 1944.
She is wearing Camouflage Measure 32, Design 13D.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 103228

USS Robinson
(DD-562)

Off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, 8 April 1944.
She is wearing Camouflage Measure 32, Design 13D.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 585 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-257701

Peleliu Invasion, September 1944


USS Robinson (DD-562) fires 40mm guns to cover underwater demolition team men clearing beach obstacles in mid-September 1944, prior to landings by the First Marine Division.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 620 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 95681

USS Robinson
(DD-562)

Steaming out of San Diego Harbor, California, en route to the East Coast, 12 January 1946.

Courtesy of Ted Stone, 1985.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 103219

USS Robinson
(DD-562)

Steaming into San Diego Harbor, California, circa mid-1953.
Naval Air Station North Island is in the immediate background, with many PBM and PB4Y patrol planes present.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 134KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 65339-KN (Color)

Insignia: USS Robinson (DD-562)

This artwork was on file at the Naval Historical Center in 1967. It had probably been received during the 1950s.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 97KB; 610 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 75792-KN (Color)

Insignia: USS Robinson (DD-562)

Plaque received in 1960.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 103KB; 635 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 81462-KN (Color)

Insignia: USS Robinson (DD-562)

Jacket patch of an emblem in use circa 1958.

Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN (Retired), 1974.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 142KB; 610 x 675 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Robinson (DD-562). 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".



  • Photo #: 80-G-244405
    USS Robinson (DD-562) off Saipan during the invasion of that island, circa June 1944. Photographed from USS Albert W. Grant (DD-649).
    Starboard bow (rather toward the broadside) surface view, with land visible in the distance.


  • Photo #: USN 1046247
    USS Robinson (DD-562) in harbor, circa 1953.
    Starboard bow aerial view.

  • Photo #: USN 1049689
    USS Robinson (DD-562) underway in May 1958. Photographed by PCH D.F. Wente, of USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39).
    Port bow surface view.

  • Photo #: USN 1076858
    USS Robinson (DD-562) underway at sea, 2 November 1961
    Starboard bow surface view.


    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."


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    Page made 20 November 2005