Hull Number: DE-749
Launch Date: 11/14/1943
Commissioned Date: 09/02/1944
Call Sign: NZWX
Voice Call Sign: SHETLAND PONY
Class: CANNON
CANNON Class
Namesake: ARTHUR JOHN ROBERTS, JR
ARTHUR JOHN ROBERTS, JR
A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History
USS ROBERTS DE-749
The Tin Can Sailor, January 2010
| The CANNON-class destroyer escort ROBERTS (DE-749) was launched on 14 November 1943 by the Western Pipe & Steel Company of San Pedro, California, and commissioned on 2 September 1944. Following shakedown off southern California, the ROBERTS sailed for the Western Pacific on 30 November. At Pearl Harbor on 10 December, she joined a hunter‑killer (HUK) group operating with the CORREGIDOR (CVE‑58) patrolling north and east of Hawaii. During January and early February 1945, her group operated mainly in the Marshalls. From 1 to 18 March, she and her group searched unsuccessfully between Johnston Island and Kwajalein for an overdue Army Air Corps transport carrying Lt. Gen. M. F. Harmon. By the end of the month the ships were operating again in the Marshalls.
Detached at the end of April, the ROBERTS got underway for Ulithi and from there headed for Okinawa on 12 May, screening the NEHENTA BAY (CVE‑74) en route. She arrived at mid month and joined the NATOMA BAY (CVE‑62) and screened her until the 31st. On the 31st, she escorted the GILBERT ISLANDS (CVE‑107), then, on 1 June, left the Ryukyus to escort the MAKIN ISLAND (CVE‑93) to Guam. By the end of June, the ROBERTS had resumed HUK operations with the KASAAN BAY (CVE‑69). The group patrolled the shipping lanes of Micronesia, but, toward the end of July, shifted to the Philippine Sea. In early August, the ROBERTS was at Guam for repairs when the hostilities ended and she was assigned to duty in the Western Pacific. During September, she escorted landing craft of the Fifth Fleet’s amphibious force from Saipan to Nagasaki. In October, she went on to screen transports from Luzon to Sasebo. On 18 October, she departed Japan for the United States, stopping in San Diego before continuing on to the Atlantic coast for inactivation. In January 1946, she moved from Norfolk to Green Cove Springs, Florida, where she joined other ships waiting to berth with the mothball fleet. In January 1947, however, she was ordered to the Fifth Naval District for reserve training duty. On 2 March, the ROBERTS arrived at Norfolk and on the 3rd, she was decommissioned and placed “in service, in reserve.” For the remainder of the decade, she served in that capacity and conducted reserve training cruises along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. In June 1950, war broke out in Korea and by 1 December the ROBERTS had been placed back in commission. Continuing her training duties, she expanded her operations, including major fleet maneuvers in her cruises. In June 1952, she extended her training cruises to the Mediterranean, and, in 1953, she participated in NATO exercises. In the summer of 1954, an extended cruise took her to South American ports. Her two‑week reserve training cruises ranged from Nova Scotia to Florida and the Caribbean. Until October 1961, the ROBERTS continued her reserve training duty. Then, with the Berlin Crisis, the selected reserve was called to active duty, and the ROBERTS was assigned to the newly formed escort squadron CortRon 12, based at Norfolk. On 1 August 1962, after the release of her reserve crew, she returned to Reserve Destroyer Squadron 34 and resumed naval reserve training. She was still engaged in reserve training work, with cruises limited to weekends and two weeks, until she was placed out of service on 21 September 1968. Her name was struck from the Navy list 2 days later. |