USS Roe (DD-418)

Francis Asbury Roe, born in Elmira, N.Y., 4 October 1823, graduated from the Naval School, Annapolis, in 1848. Six years later, while serving in Porpoise on the Asiatic Station, he participated in an engagement with 13 Chinese armored junks off Macao. Six of the junks were sunk and the others were scattered. During the Civil War, in April 1862, he was recommended for promotion for gallantry for his actions onboard Pensacola as that ship led Admiral Farragut's starboard column past Forts Jackson and St. Philip. After commanding Katahdin on the Mississippi, he was ordered to command Sassacus in September 1863. Eight months later he was again commended for gallantry for engaging the Confederate ram Albemarle and the gunboat Bombshell in the sounds of North Carolina. After the end of the war he commanded the Mexican Division of the Gulf Squadron; served as fleet captain for both the Asiatic Station from 1868 to 1871 and the Brazil Station from 1874 to 1875. Promoted to Rear Admiral 3 November 1884, while serving as Governor of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia, he was transferred to the retired list 4 October 1885. He died in Washington, D.C., 28 December 1901.

The second Roe (DD-418) was laid down 23 April 1938 by the Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C.; launched 21 June 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Roe Hilton; and commissioned 5 January 1940, Lt. Comdr. R. M. Scruggs in command.

Following shakedown, Roe conducted exercises along the east coast and in the Pacific. In the spring of 1941, she returned to the east coast and, during the summer remained primarily in the mid-Atlantic seaboard area. In the fall, she moved northward, to Argentia, to escort merchant convoys between Newfoundland and Iceland.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Roe II (DD-418)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.