Fletcher-class destroyer
![USS Rowe in open sea.](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/USS_Rowe_%28DD-564%29_underway_at_sea%2C_in_the_1950s.jpg/300px-USS_Rowe_%28DD-564%29_underway_at_sea%2C_in_the_1950s.jpg) USS
Rowe
in open sea
|
History
|
United States
|
Namesake
| John Rowe
|
Builder
| Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
|
Laid down
| 7 December 1942
|
Launched
| 30 September 1943
|
Commissioned
|
- 13 March 1944 to 31 January 1947
- 5 October 1951 to 6 November 1959
|
Stricken
| 1 December 1974
|
Fate
| Sunk as a target off the coast of
Puerto Rico
on 23 February 1978
|
General characteristics
|
Class and type
| Fletcher
-class
destroyer
|
Displacement
| 2,050 tons
|
Length
| 376 ft 6 in (114.7 m)
|
Beam
| 39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
|
Draft
| 17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
|
Propulsion
| 60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
|
Speed
| 35
knots
(65 km/h)
|
Range
| 6500
nmi.
(12,000 km) @ 15 kt
|
Complement
| 329
|
Armament
| |
USS
Rowe
(DD-564)
was a
Fletcher
-class
destroyer
of the
United States Navy
.
Namesake
[
edit
]
John Rowe was appointed
midshipman
in the Navy on 2 December 1799. He volunteered for
Lieutenant
Stephen Decatur
's expedition into
Tripoli
Harbor during the
First Barbary War
. On 16 February 1804,
USS
Intrepid
's crew boarded and set fire to
USS
Philadelphia
, destroying the
frigate
, which had fallen into enemy hands. He was commissioned lieutenant on 21 March 1807 and resigned from the Navy on 27 August 1808.
Construction and commissioning
[
edit
]
Rowe
was laid down 7 December 1942 by the
Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Co.
,
Seattle, Wash.
;
launched
30 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Louise Bradley Roberson; and
commissioned
13 March 1944.
World War II
[
edit
]
Following shakedown off San Diego,
Rowe
got underway for
Pearl Harbor
24 May 1944. After 2 weeks of additional underway training in the Hawaiian Islands, she completed a round-trip escort run to
Eniwetok
, 16 June to 2 July, and on 3 August 1944 sailed as
flagship
of Destroyer Squadron 57 (DesRon 57) for
Adak, Alaska
, to report for duty with the
9th Fleet
. She engaged in underway training there, and participated in three strikes against the
Kurils
;
Matsuwa To
Island on 21 November 1944,
Suribati Wan
on 3 January 1945, and
Kurabu Zaki
,
Paramushiro
Island on 18 February 1945. On 18 April, Destroyer Division 113 (DesDiv 113) was detached from the
North Pacific Force
and sailed for Pearl Harbor.
Rowe
seen here in 1944.
Following repairs and training,
Rowe
sailed on 11 May for
Ulithi
with
aircraft carrier
Ticonderoga
and her destroyer division. Arriving 22 May, she joined the
5th Fleet
for duty and a week later left Ulithi in convoy for
Okinawa
. Reaching the
Ryukyus
2 June,
Rowe
began
radar picket
duty. Fifteen days later, with DesDiv 113, she escorted the
battleship
Mississippi
out of
Hagushi
anchorage and steamed for the Philippines, reaching
San Pedro Bay
,
Leyte Gulf
, 20 June.
Standing out of Leyte Gulf on 1 July,
Rowe
rendezvoused with
Task Force 38
(TF 38) for screening and plane guard duties during attacks against the Japanese home islands?
Honsh?
,
Shikoku
and
Hokkaid?
. The first strike was launched on 10 July against airfields and installations in the vicinity of Tokyo. Temporarily detached on 23 July 1945,
Rowe
participated in the bombardment of the town of
Omura
on
Chichi Jima
, then rejoined the carrier force.
When the official
Japanese Instrument of Surrender
was signed in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945,
Rowe
was still steaming with Task Group 38.4 (TG 38.4) in a patrol area east of Honsh? Island, while the group's planes performed air observation missions over
prisoner of war camps
. Following a round-trip run to Eniwetok,
Rowe
steamed out of Tokyo Bay 18 November for Pearl Harbor and the United States.
Touching at
San Diego, Calif.
,
Rowe
transited the
Panama Canal
17 December and reached
Philadelphia, Pa.
23 December. Arriving
Charleston, S.C.
20 March 1946,
Rowe
decommissioned 31 January 1947 and was berthed at Charleston as a unit of the
Atlantic Reserve Fleet
.
1951?1959
[
edit
]
After almost 5 years, on 20 September 1951,
Rowe
was brought out of mothballs and recommissioned 5 October 1951. Following shakedown in the
Guantanamo Bay
area,
Rowe
conducted shore bombardment exercises at
Culebra Island
, Puerto Rico, and returned to
Norfolk, Va.
12 March 1952 for local operations with DesDiv 322. In July she steamed to
Halifax
returning to Charleston in late August for a yard availability.
Following further training exercises in the Caribbean in early 1953, she made a
midshipman cruise
to Europe during the summer, and, during the fall, she undertook hunter-killer
antisubmarine warfare
exercises with
Task Group 81.2
in the Caribbean.
On 20 April 1954
Rowe
, with ComDesRon 32 embarked, got underway for duty in the Far East. Steaming via Panama, she reached
Yokosuka
, Japan, 28 May 1954. Three days later she and
Fechteler
got underway for
Sasebo
, thence to
Pusan
for patrol duties. Arriving the same day, they relieved
Douglas H. Fox
and
Laffey
on Korean patrol. On 4 June
Rowe
assisted crash boats and aircraft in a search for a United States Air Force plane that had crashed between Korea and Japan. Six members of the plane's crew and passengers were rescued.
Rowe
then towed an Air Force
seaplane
, which was unable to take off in the rough seas, to port. On 28 August 1954,
Rowe
completed her tour with the
Seventh Fleet
and prepared for the homeward leg of her round-the-world journey. Steaming via Suez and the Mediterranean, the division arrived in Norfolk 28 October 1954.
Rowe
in the late 1950s.
The following months were spent in tender availability, upkeep, leave and local operations. On 20 June 1955, while conducting high-speed night carrier operations with
Bennington
,
Rowe
rescued a downed pilot. From 18 July through 19 September,
Rowe
participated in various CONVEX events and training exercises while operating with Commander, Anti-Submarine Warfare Forces,
Atlantic Fleet
.
Rowe
returned to Mediterranean duty on 5 November and served in the
6th Fleet
returning to Norfolk 26 February 1956.
In June and July 1956,
Rowe
conducted another midshipman cruise, then resumed operations out of Norfolk. Attached to the 6th Fleet, 21 October 1957 to 5 March 1958,
Rowe
returned to European waters in June to call at ports in Sweden and Germany. Back in Norfolk in early August, she operated off the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts until decommissioned in November 1959 and berthed at Norfolk, where she remained until struck from the
Navy Directory
on 1 December 1974.
Honors
[
edit
]
Rowe
earned three
battle stars
for
World War II
service.
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1978
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Shipwrecks
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Other incidents
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