Big Blue Huddle

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A U.S. Navy destroyer that engaged a superior Japanese fleet in the largest sea battle of World War II in the Philippines has become the deepest wreck to be discovered, according to explorers.

The USS Samuel B. Roberts, popularly known as the "Sammy B," was identified on Wednesday broken into two pieces on a slope at a depth of 6,985 meters (22,916 feet).

That puts it 426 meters (1,400 feet) deeper than the USS Johnson, the previous deepest wreck discovered last year in the Philippine Sea also by American explorer Victor Vescovo, founder of Dallas-based Caladan Oceanic Expeditions. He announced the latest find together with U.K.-based EYOS Expeditions.

"It was an extraordinary honor to locate this incredibly famous ship, and by doing so have the chance to retell her story of heroism and duty to those who may not know of the ship and her crew's sacrifice," Vescovo, a former Navy commander, said in a statement.








https://apnews.com/article/science-world-war-ii-philippines-manila-us-navy-738704ff8c2ab31bbf5cadd01cfd36d3

Being the son of a sailor from WWII and the Korean War, I had the opportunity to learn all about ships and have toured a few. I was always fascinated by war ships. My Dad was a Boatswain's Mate on the most decorated battleship in US Naval history with 19 battle stars, the USS New Jersey which is docked across the river from Philadelphia near the Ben Franklin Bridge. As a kid, I was especially fascinated by destroyers. I had never heard of the USS Samuel B. Roberts or its story. I bet my Dad knew all about it though

The USS New Jersey



My Dad was super proud of that ship

@Jolly Blue Giant

I have been to the USS NJ.   What really struck me is how the sailers essentially lived in and around a war machine, rather than a vessel designed to carry people.


As for the Sammy B., its heroism was part of a bigger battle which in my opinion was one that is on par with if not greater than the battle of the Alamo.  Here is the complete story if you're interested

Quote from: Jolly Blue Giant on June 26, 2022, 09:34:30 AMBeing the son of a sailor from WWII and the Korean War, I had the opportunity to learn all about ships and have toured a few. I was always fascinated by war ships. My Dad was a Boatswain's Mate on the most decorated battleship in US Naval history with 19 battle stars, the USS New Jersey which is docked across the river from Philadelphia near the Ben Franklin Bridge. As a kid, I was especially fascinated by destroyers. I had never heard of the USS Samuel B. Roberts or its story. I bet my Dad knew all about it though

The USS New Jersey



My Dad was super proud of that ship

I haven't been on the USS NJ, or the USS Iowa,  but I have been on 2 of her sister ships--the USS Wisconsin which is moored in Norfolk VA, and the most famous of the 4 is the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor.

We did a tour of the Wisconsin when we visited the Naval Base in Norfolk and one point always stuck with me. They were explaining how the 'big guns' rotated--it took about 15 seconds for them to rotate a 1/4 turn- but what impressed me was the statement that they could hit a target 26 miles away with basically pinpoint accuracy.
Simply amazing.

Quote from: LennG on June 26, 2022, 10:58:48 AMI haven't been on the USS NJ, or the USS Iowa,  but I have been on 2 of her sister ships--the USS Wisconsin which is moored in Norfolk VA, and the most famous of the 4 is the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor.

We did a tour of the Wisconsin when we visited the Naval Base in Norfolk and one point always stuck with me. They were explaining how the 'big guns' rotated--it took about 15 seconds for them to rotate a 1/4 turn- but what impressed me was the statement that they could hit a target 26 miles away with basically pinpoint accuracy.
Simply amazing.

They were pretty accurate and the equivilent of throwing a Volkswagen Beetle 25+ miles into a targeted house.
My father had to be in the crows nest on top of the mast. He wore ear protection of course and had binoculars. His job was to call down to the turrets to tell them where they hit and how to adjust. There is a picture in the US Navy archives showing the USS New Jersey shelling Korea. According to the date on the picture, my father was on that ship when the photo was taken and he would have been up on the crows nest with binoculars at that very moment

The picture always amazed me because of how far the ship is kicked back when the 16 inchers go off. Keep in mind the ship weighed 57,540 tons, and nearly as long as three football fields (296 yards long) and had eleven stories

USS Slater

  ·
With the recent discovery of the wreckage of USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS (DE-413), it is appropriate to revisit the history of this brave ship to understand why her discovery is so significant. Under the command of LCDR Robert Copeland, she had departed Manus on 12 October 1944. She joined Rear Adm. Ralph A. Ofstie's escort carriers, KITKUN BAY (CVE-71) and GAMBIER BAY (CVE-73), guarded by SAMUEL B. ROBERTS, JOHN C. BUTLER (DE-339), DENNIS (DE-405), and RAYMOND (DE-341).
After screening transports and amphibious ships safely off of Leyte on 19 October 1944, SAMUEL B. ROBERTS and her escort carrier unit joined RADM Clifton A. F. Sprague's Taffy 3. That task force then included six escort carriers and seven escorts.
At 0637 on 25 October 1944, a Taffy 3 anti-submarine patrol pilot from escort carrier FANSHAW BAY (CVE-70) sighted the Japanese Center Force off of Samar. Moments later, the pagoda-like masts of the Japanese fleet seemed to fill the horizon. A message for help from Taffy 3 went out in the clear, and the six escort carriers launched all available planes.
At 0655, SAMUEL B. ROBERTS went to general quarters. Three minutes later, lookouts reported splashes from heavy caliber shells falling close aboard, between SAMUEL B. ROBERTS and USS JOHNSTON (DD-557). At 0700, SAMUEL B. ROBERTS and her sister ships laid down heavy black funnel smoke, to cover the run-and-gun-style fighting typical of a fierce surface battle.
Most of the crew prepared for the worst. The smoke screen caused a slackening of enemy fire, and at 0716, SAMUEL B. ROBERTS entered a rainsquall, further hiding her from the Japanese for the next 11 minutes. After splitting his force into three separate groups to give chase, Adm. Kurita planned to surround Taffy 3 and destroy it. The rainsquall provided the concealment Adm. Sprague needed, and intuitively he changed course, so he did not exit the squall where the Japanese expected him.
At 0735, Adm. Sprague hoped to scatter the enemy ships by ordering a torpedo attack, providing the escort carriers time to turn and flee. JOHNSTON, under the command of Ernest Evans, made an independent torpedo run. Sprague now ordered HOEL and HEERMANN to make an attack, to be followed by second torpedo attack by the destroyer escorts.
As the junior DE skipper, LCDR, Copeland acknowledged the order, and waited to fall in after the other destroyer escorts. When Copeland realized none moved towards the enemy, he decided to join the destroyer attack himself, out of fear he would be hit before launching hid torpedoes.
Copeland finished calculations needed to make a torpedo attack on the nearest enemy ship, a cruiser, when a near collision with HEERMANN temporarily threw SAMUEL B. ROBERTS off of her attack run. Copeland fell in line on a course 3,000 yards astern of HEERMANN, and resumed the offensive, becoming the first of the destroyer escorts to begin a torpedo run.
Copeland closed to 4,000 yards before firing. Most sources credit SAMUEL B. ROBERTS with scoring one hit on the heavy cruiser, CHOKAI. Copeland dodged incoming fire from the enemy cruiser's 8-inch forward guns. Salvos from several Japanese vessels splashed near the lead American warships, including SAMUEL B. ROBERTS. Copeland then turned his attention on the enemy cruiser, CHIKUMA, ordering his gunners to open fire on her at 0805. The gun captains fired 608 of 650 shells, the entire capacity of the destroyer escorts' magazine.
The Battleship KONGO redirected her guns at SAMUEL B. ROBERTS, and using high-explosive shells, fired three from her 14-inch gun salvos that found their mark. The first shell struck near SAMUEL B. ROBERTS's waterline, in the gyro room. Destroying the radar, the shell extinguished all lights on board, knocking out communications between the skipper and crew. The second shell tore through the lower handling room of Gun 51, knocking many of the gun crew down or up against the bulkhead. Flooding began almost immediately, and the repair party quickly started moving ammunition topside.
The third projectile ruptured the main steam line and caused the escort vessel to dip in speed from 28.5 knots down to 17.5. Losing her two greatest assets, speed and maneuverability, SAMUEL B. ROBERTS was simply shot to pieces during the last 15 minutes she was in action. Just after 0900, a second salvo of three 8-inch shells struck, one entering the engine room and exploding. The second shell struck the aft 40-millimeter gun mount, killing the entire gun crew. Shrapnel sprayed across the signal bridge, striking down more men.
Only the aft 5-inch gun, captained by GM3c Paul H. Carr, remained in action. While attempting to load the last of her 325 remaining shells, an overheated powder charge sparked a breech explosion, killing or mortally wounding every member of the aft gun crew. MM2c Chalmer Goheen found Petty Officer Carr grievously wounded, defiantly clutching the last shell. Torn open from the neck down to his groin, the dying gunner begged his shipmate to help him load and fire the final shot. Petty Officer Goheen took the shell from Carr and helped him to the deck where the 21-year-old gun captain died five minutes later. For his heroic actions during the battle, GM3c Paul Carr received the Silver Star posthumously.
After sending his officers around the dying vessel to conduct damage assessments, at 0910, Copeland gave the order to abandon ship. After crewmembers destroyed all-important equipment and secret documents, they began abandoning the only home they had known for the past six months.
At 1007, SAMUEL B. ROBERTS sank, stern first. Her survivors watched sadly as she slipped beneath the waves. Several clung to three life rafts and two floater nets, suffering for over fifty hours before being rescued.

https://www.facebook.com/USS.Slater

Incredible!

Quote from: MightyGiants on June 28, 2022, 08:13:07 AM

Nice clip. It is the reason my father's response to most questions was "what?" He had very bad hearing loss and was nearly deaf by the time he was in his 90's. All of the damage to his hearing (according to doctors and experts) was from those 16" guns as he was always outside when they went off because he is in a crows nest communicating with the officers running the cannons. Here's a picture of him when he was a boatswain mate on the New Jersey with his equipment.



And about 60 years later standing in front of the ship with my mother



My dad gave several tours of the ship to members of the family and once they knew he was an old sailor and that was his ship, they let him do pretty much anything he wanted. He took my son and I once and asked if we wanted to go down in the turret of the 16 inchers and we immediatly said, "we can't, it's chained off and has signs telling visitors if was off limits"...he laughed, pulled the chains out of the way and we went down in a turret and checked it out". Big wheels for turning the turret and cannons up and down - each of the three guns had their own wheel, and a lot of gauges and switches. And an elevator system that delivered rounds for loading from beneath the floor. There were pulleys and winches and a "slide- guide" (for lack of a better term) for getting the shells into the cannons. Very interesting

Great pix Ric. Did your Dad ever get out to Pearl Harbor?

Her is a pix of my wife under the 16" guns on the Missouri

Ric you might find this article interesting

https://sailorsattic.wordpress.com/2018/09/14/fire-control-on-iowa-class-battleships/

Also here's an article about one of my favorite WW 2 debate topics (Iowa class VS Yamoto)


https://sofrep.com/news/the-ultimate-gunfighters-uss-iowa-class-battleships-versus-ijn-yamato-class/#:~:text=Iowa%20was%20several%20seconds%20faster,carrying%20beyond%20their%20rated%20displacement.

Quote from: LennG on June 28, 2022, 11:40:55 AMGreat pix Ric. Did your Dad ever get out to Pearl Harbor?

Her is a pix of my wife under the 16" guns on the Missouri

Great pic Lenn

Yes he got to Pearl Harbor - at least twice while he was in the Navy and again when we (my brothers and sisters) collected our money to send them to an all expense paid trip to Hawaii for a week on their 50th anniversary. Besides helicopter tours and hanging out on Waikiki Beach, they toured the memorial at Pearl Harbor

I have pictures of Dad in Hawaii while he was in "duty". My mother always hated this picture...LOL



I also have some of him in uniform on Waikiki Beach and another with Diamond Head in the background.

My father was an interesting young man. He changed the date on his birth certificate to get into the war when he was 16, but got caught when his mother discovered what he had done and turned him in so while in boot camp, he was sent home. When he was 17 (the legal age), he finished his Jr year in HS and joined. He was sent to the Pacific theater after going through the Panama Canal, stopping at Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, Sydney, and then to New Caledonia. He was in the Sea Bees as a heavy equipment operator because he had a commercial drivers license given to him when he was 16 in order to drive a milk truck for the farmer he worked for. Within a year the war was over and he spent a year in Osaka, Japan and gave tours (because he was the only one with a commercial driver's license to take them) of the smoldering ruins of Nagasaki for officers that wanted a first hand view. He walked through the ruins while the ground was still "hot". We used to joke and tell him that's why none of his sons have hair!

Regardless, one of the things that I am proudest of my father for, was that after his discharge, he went back to high school to finish his senior year and graduate at 20 yrs old. I always thought how weird it must have been to be in high school walking through the halls and having fought in a world war and had traveled all over the world. After that, he went to Cornell, but then the Korean War broke out and he immediately signed back up. It was then that he was assigned to the New Jersey and he was made a petty officer due to previous service. If you can't tell, I'm overly proud of my dad. About 10 years ago, I put together a shadow box with his medals and patches. He was not aware I was doing it and it took me over a year to put together



There is a "wall of fame" in my parent's house that has flags from the coffin of my dad's brother who was killed in action during WWII, his brother's picture in the big frame, a hand signed letter of recommendation by President Harry Truman, pictures of all his descendants who were soldiers, a flag that flew over my son's base in Iraq when he was a combat medic, etc. There is another wall in the hallway with a half dozen or more framed pictures of the USS New Jersey as well as a piece of the original deck that my son paid for when visiting the ship that is in a small shadow box, etc. The picture is a few years old so it doesn't include my all of my nieces and nephew who were (are currently) soldiers in the Israeli army and it doesn't have my father's flag from his funeral which is in a navy blue and white frame

Quote from: MightyGiants on June 28, 2022, 11:45:52 AMRic you might find this article interesting

https://sailorsattic.wordpress.com/2018/09/14/fire-control-on-iowa-class-battleships/

Also here's an article about one of my favorite WW 2 debate topics (Iowa class VS Yamoto)


https://sofrep.com/news/the-ultimate-gunfighters-uss-iowa-class-battleships-versus-ijn-yamato-class/#:~:text=Iowa%20was%20several%20seconds%20faster,carrying%20beyond%20their%20rated%20displacement.

Thanks for sharing Rich. Good information and of course it hits home because of my father's role in those big guns